Boom Goes The Dynamite

There's little surprise, for us, that most of the national media is still focused on the issue that blew up in the face of the Republican Party over the last few days, courtesy of Missouri Republican Representative Todd Akin. We've been saying for years now that someday the extremism and lunatic tendencies of the modern Republican party were going to explode at the worst possible time and burn the GOP politically.

What was more interesting for us was the Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll that came out late on Tuesday. In short, the numbers confirm what we've been saying for some time - that the current Republican Party leadership is at war with America, even if large numbers of Republicans are not.

Before we dig too deeply into the numbers, we want to preface today's commentary by noting a couple things. As the general election campaign expands to a full-on race, our general attitude about polls remains the same: we don't generally trust any single poll or pollster entirely. We do have a significant amount of trust in Nate Silver's research, and some polls have proven themselves over time to be more trustworthy - so we'll likely be quoting more of the trustworthy polls over the next dozen weeks.

According to one of those instruments, the new WSJ/NBC poll, the introduction of GOP House member Paul Ryan to the Republican Presidential ticket got no real bounce from voters. Outside polling confirms that. Nearly half of voters said Ryan was a fair or poor choice.

The overall national race between President Obama and Mr. Romney has tightened very slightly - but not because voters like the Romney/Ryan Plan. Fifty percent of all voters polled pick Obama on the issue of Medicare. Only 34 percent pick Romney.

That's not where the most explosive numbers showed up, however.

Mitt Romney only really leads the President in the polls with old, white, rural, male voters. Midwesterners, suburbanites, and independents are all split evenly.

President Obama leads Mitt Romney solidly in virtually every other major subcategory of voters. African American voters choose President Obama 94-0. That's 94 percent to 0 percent. Latinos pick Obama by a 2-to-1 margin, voters under 35 choose Obama by 52-41, and all women pick the current President by a 51-41 margin.

That last set of numbers, as well as the numbers on Medicare are key.

What they mean, collectively, is that President Obama has massive support from the most powerful blocks of voting minorities, and from women, and now - thanks to the detail-lacking "fairy dust" Romney/Ryan Plan - more seniors than ever.

In the midst of these kinds of numbers, the actions of Tea Party Republican Congressman like Todd Akin merely light the fuse that now has the GOP in a potentially devastating war with itself. It will only highlight the serious divisions in the Republican Party just in time for them to be displayed on prime time TV for all of America to see.

Frankly, the Republican Party may have sent a less explosive clue about their internal troubles if they'd invited the country to a nitroglycerine cookout.

Not Clowning Around

As kids get back to school this week and a few more personal milestones happen to our staff members and their families, it seems like the perfect time to stop and take a moment, and look around at the political landscape around us.

Yes, we're well aware of the circus that's blown up around Missouri Republican Rep. Todd Akin. Before the general election in Missouri has even begun, Akin appears to have soundly defeated himself, thanks to his misogynistic and ignorant comments about "legitimate rape" this past weekend.

A sane person would think that virtually every American, from almost every political background would have chastised Akin, and driven him out of politics and into another line of work. That would be where sane, logical people go wrong though, as clowns like Akin continue to prove their political careers are not yet over.

The fact is, there are a surprising number of influential members of the Republican Party who continue to support Akin. While not the majority of the modern Republican Party, those who think Akin did nothing seriously wrong include such notable figures as Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, and syndicated media talent Dana Loesch.

If you're wondering how we got to this point, where the current Republican Party isn't even a macabre, clownish vestige of its better days, we can show you the answer with ease. In fact, we've been saying this in words and cartoons for several years now.

The current Republican party leaders don't care about governing. They only care about winning. If they truly cared about governing, they would never have installed a clown like Akin into a position where he could cause them such serious grief. Even after the National Republican Party and Karl Rove's SuperPAC both yanked their ads and financial support abruptly from Akin's campaign, those on the far right of the party insist Akin said nothing wrong. They continue to push for him to stay in the race, and say those like Rove and the RNC are merely cowards.

Frankly, we can't disagree with that characterization.

So now we have the makings of one doozy of an intra-party Republican battle. For those of us who watch these kinds of things closely, this fight has been brewing for years.

It's a battle between several kinds of Republicans. There are those few who are left from the old days, rational Republicans who understand what it really means to govern effectively and to find compromise. Then there are those like the extremists on the far right, who insist that any compromise with those who disagree with them is treason. Finally, there are those who only care about being on the winning side, whatever side that is - in other words, mercenaries.

Regardless of whether Akin resigns from the U.S. House of Representatives, and from the U.S. Senate race against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill, the Republican intra-party circus battle will continue.

We're not rooting for the clowns to win this one.

A Swift Punch In The Teeth

As the media ramps up for the two major parties' political conventions, the first of which starts a week from today, the 2012 campaign season is truly beginning in earnest. That means that the media - including us - truly needs to begin looking at how each major party and it's candidates plan to govern if they win.

A perfect example of the Republican governing philosophy towards women and rape was on display this weekend at a local TV station in St. Louis, Missouri.

According to Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate in Missouri, Rep. Todd Akin, "From what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape], is really rare. If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down," Akin said. “But let’s assume that maybe that didn’t work or something. I think there should be some punishment, but the punishment ought to be on the rapist and not attacking the child.”

If, after hearing what that Republican politician said, you feel like someone punched you in the head with a horseshoe-laden glove, you're not alone  -  Rep. Akin's statement has also sent shockwaves through the political atmosphere.

Here's another punch to the head: Back in 2011, Rep. Paul Ryan, the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee, co-sponsored a proposed amendment in the U.S. House of Representatives with Rep. Akin that would have redefined the legal definition of rape.

The "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" would have only given legal protections to women who had been raped if they had experienced "forcible rape" - meaning assault with rape. Victims of statutory rape, rape by being drugged (including alcohol), rape by coercion, or virtually any other kind of rape would no longer have had the same options for help from authorities if it were up to Representatives Akin and Ryan, and many other Tea Party members of the GOP-led House.

This kind of anti-woman position is nothing new from the Republican Party. Both Ron Paul and Rick Santorum displayed their beliefs, earlier this year, that rape was something other than a violent attack. In fact, those who currently lead the GOP actually think ideas like these are something to be proud of. Paul Ryan even hailed Rep. Akin's leadership during the recent three-way Republican primary in Missouri.

While Akin had apologized for his comments by 5 PM Sunday, the fact remains that Akin - and in fact MANY of those in the current Republican Party leadership - believe that some forms of rape are "legitimate."

There are those conservatives who repudiated Akin's comments, and who might have thought for a moment that maybe Mitt Romney might use Akin's comment as a "Sista Souljah moment" - a chance for Romney to repudiate some of the most extremist anti-woman views of the current Republican Party.

We remind them that if Mitt Romney were going to have a more evolved view of women's rights, it's unlikely that he would have chosen the co-sponsor of a bill that rolled back the definition of rape half a century. All that the Romney/Ryan camp said Sunday night was that they "disagree with Mr. Akin's statement, and a Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape."

That meek assurance gives us no real confidence at all.

Know that if you align yourself with the current version of the Republican Party, and you plan to vote for politicians like Mr. Ryan and Mr. Akin, this is the kind of legislation Republican lawmakers plan on enacting, should they win.

We sincerely hope that America's women and men remember this as they head to the polls this autumn - and hand those who believe in ideas like "legitimate rape" a swift and painful defeat.