Note this exchange:
In other news, Akin proposed once again legalizing slavery and withholding the franchise from women and racial minorities. OK, no, he didn't say that. Aloud. That's a pernicious slander. For now. Wait a week...AUDIENCE MEMBER: You voted against the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. Why do you think it is okay for a woman to be paid less for doing the same work as a man?
Rep. Todd Akin
AKIN: Well, first of all, the premise of your question is that I'm making that particular distinction. I believe in free enterprise. I don't think the government should be telling people what you pay and what you don't pay. I think it's about freedom. If someone [wants] to hire somebody and they agree on a salary, that's fine, however it wants to work. So, the government sticking its nose into all kinds of things has gotten us into huge trouble.
But here's something that is true: Akin's conservative consultant Kellyanne Conway praised Akin by comparing him to David Koresh... yes, that David Koresh, of the Waco compound in 1993. Now there's an exemplar of conservative leadership: everyone under Koresh's command was killed, but before he killed them in a fire, Koresh was... yes... banging girls who had not reached the age of consent. Is Conway saying we need more like David Koresh?
I should be grateful for Akin's efforts in McCaskill's behalf. But his whole candidacy frightens me. The GOP is not going away, despite my fondest dreams. But it IS changing. Election after election, Republicans grow ever more morally extreme, further from the American center and further from sanity. If the GOP will continue to back a candidate who has gone off the deep end as far as Akin, how far will they ultimately go? and... with what consequences for women and racial minorities?
