memeorandum: GOP Senate Candidate: Victims Of ‘Legitimate Rape’ Won't Become Pregnant (Zack Beauchamp/ThinkProgress)

11:05 AM ET, August 20, 2012

Top Items:

Romney: Akin's ‘Inexcusable’ Comment — In a phone interview this morning, Mitt Romney told National Review Online that Representative Todd Akin's recent comment on rape is “inexcusable.” — “Congressman's Akin comments on rape are insulting, inexcusable, and, frankly, wrong,” Romney said.

Discussion: Washington Wire, GOP 12, Guardian, USA Today, First Read, Mediaite, The Caucus and Wall Street Journal

Alexander Burns / Politico:

DNC email ties Romney to Todd Akin — In an email to supporters sent overnight, DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz went after Missouri Rep. Todd Akin's comments about whether women get pregnant from “legitimate rape,” and attempted to discredit the whole Republican Party and GOP presidential ticket in a condemnation of Akin's views:

Discussion: Taylor Marsh, Washington Examiner and Taegan Goddard's …

Nate Silver / FiveThirtyEight:

Akin Comments Could Swing Missouri Senate Race — In my review of Senate races last week, I classified Representative Todd Akin of Missouri, who won the Republican primary earlier this month, as a very slight favorite over the Democratic incumbent in the state, Claire McCaskill.

Discussion: First Read, The Daily Dish, The Hinterland Gazette and The Caucus

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:

Republican Senate Nominee: Victims Of ‘Legitimate Rape’ Don't Get Pregnant — This post has been updated. — Rep. Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for Senate in Missouri who is running against Sen. Claire McCaskill, justified his opposition to abortion rights even in case of rape …

David Catanese / Politico:

Todd Akin's rape remark has GOP fretting — Rep. Todd Akin's damning statement that victims of “legitimate rape” rarely get pregnant is just the latest in a string of unforced errors by the GOP Senate candidate that has Republicans fretting about his chances of beating Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill.

Discussion: CNN, The Moderate Voice, Outside the Beltway, The Maddow Blog and Talking Points Memo

Dana Loesch / BREITBART.COM:
AKIN ON ‘LEGITIMATE RAPE’: “I MISSPOKE”

Discussion: Mediaite, Erick's blog, The Daily Caller, The Other McCain, The Gateway Pundit, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion and The Looking Spoon Blog, more at Mediagazer »

CNN:
Romney and Ryan disagree with Akin rape remark, says campaign

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Hot Air, ThinkProgress, The Page, Conservatives4Palin, The Political Carnival and Los Angeles Times

New York Times:
Senate Candidate Provokes Ire With ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comment

Discussion: The Caucus, News Desk, Politicker, Washington Examiner, GOP 12, Informed Comment, FOX2now.com, Talking Points Memo, Gothamist, The New Civil Rights Movement, Politico, Feministing and Hotline On Call

Garance Franke-Ruta / The Atlantic Online:
A Canard That Will Not Die: ‘Legitimate Rape’ Doesn't Cause Pregnancy

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, Associated Press, Physicians For Life, The Daily Beast, The Fix, The Agonist, Balloon Juice and Washington Post

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill: Romney campaign criticizes Akin remarks on rape, abortion

Zack Beauchamp / ThinkProgress:
GOP Senate Candidate: Victims Of ‘Legitimate Rape’ Won't Become Pregnant

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Ballot Box, Politico, Talking Points Memo and Firedoglake

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:
Akin On ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comment: ‘I Misspoke’

Discussion: Mother Jones, ThinkProgress, rubber hose, Religion Dispatches, Show Me Progress, Connecting.the.Dots, The New Civil Rights Movement, First Read, Mediaite, Crooks and Liars and Little Green Footballs

Charles Jaco / FOX2now.com:
The Jaco Report: August 19, 2012

Discussion: Politico, Talking Points Memo, The Strata-Sphere, Washington Examiner, News Desk, Mother Jones, 2012 Decoded, The Daily Caller, The New Civil Rights Movement, Hotline On Call, The Hinterland Gazette, ABCNEWS, Newsy, Business Insider and TBogg

Pema Levy / Talking Points Memo:
Democrats Link Akin To Romney-Ryan: ‘The Real Issue’ Is The GOP

Discussion: Democratic National Committee, Applesauce and National Review

Laura Bassett / The Huffington Post:
Mitt Romney Distances Self From Todd Akin's Legitimate Rape' Comments

Discussion: ThinkProgress, Talking Points Memo and Daily Kos

Politico:

Exclusive: GOP scolded after drinking, nudity in Israel — The FBI probed a late-night swim in the Sea of Galilee that involved drinking, numerous GOP freshmen lawmakers, top leadership staff - and one nude member of Congress, according to more than a dozen sources, including eyewitnesses.

Midwest Democracy:
Kansas congressman Yoder apologizes for swimming nude in Sea of Galilee

Discussion: The Hill and ABCNEWS

Politico:
Exclusive: FBI probed GOP trip with drinking, nudity in Israel

Discussion: The Atlantic Online and Runnin' Scared

Glenn Thrush / Politico:

POLITICO e-book: Obama campaign roiled by conflict — President Barack Obama's campaign team, celebrated four years ago for its exceptional cohesion and eyes-on-the-prize strategic focus, has been shadowed this time by a succession of political disagreements and personal rivalries that haunted the effort at the outset.

Discussion: Election 2012, Weekly Standard, Hot Air, Weasel Zippers, Marbury, Right Wing News, Washington Examiner, Althouse and Jammie Wearing Fools

New York Post:
See no evil — One of President Obama's advisers took money …

Discussion: protein wisdom

Los Angeles Times:

‘Top Gun’ director Tony Scott jumps to his death from L.A. bridge — Tony Scott, a director known for ‘Top Gun’ and a producer, jumped off the Vincent Thomas Bridge in San Pedro without hesitation, witnesses tell police. — Director and producer Tony Scott jumped to his death …

Discussion: Alan Colmes' Liberaland, L.A. NOW, Mediaite, Outside the Beltway, New York Times, Taylor Marsh, The Hinterland Gazette and American Power

Niall Ferguson / The Daily Beast:

Niall Ferguson: Hit the Road, Barack — The president has broken his promises, and Romney-Ryan's path to prosperity is our only hope. — I was a good loser four years ago. “In the grand scheme of history,” I wrote the day after Barack Obama's election as president, “four decades is not an especially long time.

Paul Krugman:
Unethical Commentary, Newsweek Edition

Discussion: Crooks and Liars, Weasel Zippers, The Daily Beast, Daily Kos, Business Insider, NewsBusters.org blogs and Chicago Boyz

Paul Krugman / New York Times:

An Unserious Man — Mitt Romney's choice of Paul Ryan as his running mate led to a wave of pundit accolades. Now, declared writer after writer, we're going to have a real debate about the nation's fiscal future. This was predictable: never mind the Tea Party, Mr. Ryan's true constituency …

Discussion: Prairie Weather and The Hinterland Gazette

Matthew Boyle / The Daily Caller:

Former union boss at Occupy event: Our goal is to ‘overthrow the capitalist system and build communism’ [VIDEO] — Former Amalgamated Transit Union local 689 president Mike Golash, now an “Occupy” movement organizer, was caught on tape Sunday revealing his political goals …

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, The Other McCain, The Lonely Conservative, The Gateway Pundit and moonbattracker.com/wordpress

Manu Raju / Politico:

Donald Trump gets ‘surprise’ convention role — The Donald is gearing up for Tampa. — When the Republican National Convention kicks off next Monday, Donald Trump will have a “surprise” role on its first day, people familiar with the matter said Sunday evening.

Discussion: Hot Air, Outside the Beltway and Towleroad News #gay

Jeremy W. Peters / New York Times:

Romney Campaign Works Feverishly to Project Relaxed Image — TAMPA, Fla. — They hail from the Broadway stage, the control rooms of NBC and the design studios that created sleek sets for Oprah Winfrey and Jon Stewart. — Their craft is slick packaging and eye candy that audiences consume by the millions.