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

9:00 AM ET, August 20, 2012

Top Items:

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 …

Meghashyam Mali / The Hill:

Romney campaign criticizes Akin remarks on rape, abortion — Mitt Romney's campaign on Sunday quickly condemned a comment from Republican Rep. Todd Akin (Mo.) claiming that pregnancy from forcible rape was rare and said the presumptive GOP nominee and his running mate Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) …

Dana Loesch / BREITBART.COM:

AKIN ON ‘LEGITIMATE RAPE’: “I MISSPOKE” — Republican Senate candidate Todd Akin appeared on a local St. Louis television show (below) and discussed his thoughts on abortion, even in the instance of rape or incest, which accounts for less than 1% of abortions received. (More.)

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

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:

Akin On ‘Legitimate Rape’ Comment: ‘I Misspoke’ — Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) said late Sunday that he “misspoke” when he claimed that women who are victims of “legitimate rape” have biological defenses that fend off a pregnancy and therefore do not need legal abortion rights.

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

CNN:

Romney and Ryan disagree with Akin rape remark, says campaign — (CNN) - A spokeswoman for Mitt Romney wrote late Sunday that the presumptive GOP presidential nominee and his running mate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, did not share Rep. Todd Akin's sentiments on rape.

Discussion: Politico, The Maddow Blog, Hot Air, Talking Points Memo and The Political Carnival

Charles Jaco / FOX2now.com:

The Jaco Report: August 19, 2012 — (KTVI)-The race for the United States Senate in Missouri is one of the most closely watched in the nation. Republican hopes for regaining control of the Senate heavily depend on republican Congressman Todd Akin defeating incumbent Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill.

Discussion: New York Times, The Caucus, Washington Examiner, GOP 12, News Desk, Talking Points Memo, Mother Jones, The New Civil Rights Movement, Informed Comment, The Hinterland Gazette, 2012 Decoded, Newsy, ABCNEWS, Business Insider, Hotline On Call and TBogg

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: Taegan Goddard's …

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

Discussion: Democratic National Committee, National Review and Betsy's Page

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

Discussion: Physicians For Life, The Daily Beast, Talking Points Memo and Mother Jones

Ian Millhiser / ThinkProgress:
How Todd Akin And Paul Ryan Partnered To Redefine Rape

Discussion: The New Civil Rights Movement, New York Magazine and Philly.com

Evan McMorris-Santoro / Talking Points Memo:
Akin Outburst Will Put Pressure On Romney-Ryan

Discussion: The Maddow Blog and Balloon Juice

Robin Abcarian / Los Angeles Times:
Rep. Todd Akin: No pregnancy from ‘legitimate rape’

Discussion: The Page

David Cohen / Politico:
Todd Akin: ‘Legitimate rape’ victims rarely get pregnant

Discussion: FiveThirtyEight, FOX2now.com and The New Civil Rights Movement

Aaron Blake / The Fix:
Todd Akin, GOP Senate candidate: ‘Legitimate rape’ rarely causes pregnancy

Discussion: Conservatives4Palin, The PJ Tatler, Prairie Weather, Washington Post, Feministing, Midwest Democracy and Jammie Wearing Fools

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.

Discussion: CNN, Booman Tribune, ABCNEWS, Washington Post, Outside the Beltway, The Fix, New York Magazine, TBogg, KNXV, The Moderate Voice, National Review, The Political Carnival, Algemeiner.com, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Balloon Juice, NewsBusters.org, Stinque and Newsy

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.

Discussion: Wizbang, Scared Monkeys, Instapundit, The Gateway Pundit, NO QUARTER, Politico, Business Insider, Weasel Zippers, NewsBusters.org blogs, American Power, The Moderate Voice, The PJ Tatler, The Hinterland Gazette, The Lonely Conservative, iOwnTheWorld.com and Lawyers, Guns & Money

Paul Krugman:
Unethical Commentary, Newsweek Edition

Discussion: Daily Kos, Business Insider 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: The Hinterland Gazette and Prairie Weather

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

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.

Discussion: GOP 12, USA Today, The Caucus and Balloon Juice

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Swing-State Voters Say They Are No Better Off Than in 2008 — Divided as to whether they would be better off in four years under Obama or Romney — PRINCETON, NJ — A majority of voters in key 2012 election swing states say they are not better off than they were four years ago; 40% say they are better off.

Discussion: Politico, Ballot Box and Algemeiner.com

Jeremy W. Peters / The Caucus:

Obama Opens Up to ‘Moneyball’ Writer for Vanity Fair — The White House has granted Michael Lewis, the best-selling author of “Moneyball” and “The Big Short,” extensive access to President Obama for an article in the October issue of Vanity Fair. — The magazine confirmed that Mr. Lewis …

Discussion: Politico and New York Magazine

Justin Sink / The Hill:

New Romney ad decries Obama welfare changes as ‘nuts’ — Mitt Romney's campaign released a new ad Monday citing a newspaper editorial that decries President Obama's recent change to welfare policy as “nuts,” doubling down on the presumptive Republican nominee's tough attacks on the shift.

Discussion: CNN

BuzzFeed:

Ohio Republican Stands By Jab At Black Turnout “Machine” — “I said I believe that there's a line of how far that taxpayers should have to go to match a specific political operation, and that's what I mean,” Preisse tells BuzzFeed. Democrats cry suppression. — Source: @dougpreisse

Discussion: Plunderbund