Relying on Todd Akin's sense of decency has not worked. Within hours of his idiotic comments about "legitimate rape," Karl Rove's Crossroads GPS pulled out millions of dollars in funding for the Missouri Senate race. Akin didn't get the hint.
Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, withdrew all funding from the Missouri race. Akin still refused to quit.
Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a major Christian and tea party favorite, immediately called for Akin to withdraw from the race -- nothing.
Even Sean Hannity, the most true-blue Republican and defender of all conservatives, pleaded with Akin to withdraw. Still nothing.
This guy Akin is more selfish than Eliot Spitzer. After being caught in a prostitution scandal, Spitzer spent two days looking for anyone who would come to his aid. When no one did, he resigned.
Not Todd Akin!
True, what Spitzer did was worse, but not in the Democratic tradition. Moreover, Spitzer was the sitting governor! Akin won a highly contested Republican primary only a few weeks ago and thinks he's got a God-given right to be the Senate candidate from Missouri.
Republicans are not asking Akin to step aside because they suddenly found someone better. They are asking him to step aside because, by his own volition, he said something monumentally stupid, destroying his own candidacy.
No Republican can ramble on about "legitimate rape" and what happens to a woman's body after a rape when asked the de rigueur "rape or incest" question and not step aside.
Akin isn't a well-meaning person who slipped up under relentless cross-examination by a ruthless MSM reporter. He was trying to show off -- "Look at me! I can not only make that half-court shot, I can do it facing away from the basket!"
He missed.
Akin was not even the clear choice of conservatives. In the primary, John Brunner was endorsed by both Missouri Right to Life and the National Right to Life. Sarah Steelman was endorsed by Sarah Palin. Akin was endorsed by the Democratic Party.
The Democrats carefully nurtured Akin with millions of dollars in campaign money because he was the candidate they most wanted to run against. (Akin thinks all those Democrats voting for him in the primary merely shows that he's got tremendous crossover appeal!)
There's no rehabilitating this guy. It's a waste of money. His comments are going to cost Republicans an easy Senate seat in a moment of crisis for the nation. This one man's stubborn refusal to bow out could cost us control of the U.S. Senate, House seats in Missouri, Senate seats elsewhere and maybe even the White House itself.
Other than that, there's not all that much riding on this.
Our miracle senator, Scott Brown of Massachusetts, wasted no time in repudiating Akin and calling on him to withdraw. I promise you, the Democrats' campaign against Brown will be: "Do you want to vote for the Brown-Akin ticket?"
The media finally got their evidence for the "Republican War on Women" from a Democrat-supported congressman no one had ever heard of until Monday. All their other evidence was so laughable, it was hardly worth responding to.
By contrast, Akin's pointless disquisition on rape could stick.
But this selfish man has decided to play a game of chicken with the Republican Party. He thinks that by stubbornly refusing to step aside, Republicans will be forced to give him money simply because they need that Senate seat.
Republicans should call his bluff. This is no time to be counting on people to check the FEC reports to see that the GOP has cut off his money.
It's time for a nuclear bomb. Republicans should stage a write-in campaign for a popular Republican, such as Kit Bond, former governor and senator from Missouri.
If Akin had done the decent thing and dropped out, he could have been replaced with one of the stellar pro-life primary candidates. But for a write-in campaign to work, it has to be a well-known and loved Missourian -- someone whose name people know how to spell.
It will be much better for Republicans to be seen as having a zero-tolerance policy on stupid rape comments than counting on people to notice that Republicans universally repudiated this narcissist.
We need Republicans out there saying, "Akin's not our candidate; our candidate is Kit Bond."
Republicans are going to lose with Akin anyway; mounting a write-in campaign at least gives them a shot. Don't forget: It worked just two years ago for Lisa Murkowski in Alaska. By contrast, mortally wounded politicians never win. And we really need that Senate seat.
Short of an untimely hunting accident, a write-in campaign is the only way out of this mess. (And if he's too selfish to quit, let me tell you, Akin is not going to voluntarily die in an untimely hunting accident.)
Yes, there's a double standard. Yes, the non-Fox media are Democratic flacks. Yes, if Joe Biden had said it, it would be a harmless "gaffe." That's the world we live in. Now let's concentrate on taking back the Senate so we can repeal Obamacare and get some decent justices appointed to the Supreme Court.
