Akin Must Go?

I am a person that believes when a politician does something wrong, there is a price to pay. I believe we need to hold them to the highest standards because they reflect on us all, a glaring light that cannot be dismissed. A misstep in a small town may go unnoticed except for the gossip it generates, but that same misstep on the national stage is like turning on a flashlight in a movie theater; everyone will focus on it, and the complaints will echo loudly. When Congressman Randall ‘Duke’ Cunningham was caught with his hand in the pocket of defense contractors, I painfully agreed he needed to be put out by the Republicans, for the good of the party and the country, to prove the principles conservatives claim to stand for. I say painful because absent my father, Randall Cunningham the fighter ace (the man who flew my all time favorite jet fighter, the F-4 Phantom), was the closest thing to an idol I ever had as a teenager. His success in the air-war in Vietnam was something I admired greatly; I read everything I could about his dog fights and aerial victories. I was pleased to see him rise to promenance in Congress. However, as I said, a price has to be paid; no problem with that.

Now comes Todd Akin and his too quick and ill-thought answer on abortion. I must admit, before I knew more than the quips being bandied about on radio shows, that I believed he was just a bumbler who let words fall out at the most inopportune times. I was ready to join the chorus calling for him to step aside. I commented that he should have just answered the question as posed and leave the qualification out of it; and in truth, he should have done just that.

Instead, he used a word in the wrong context, and now the media is having a field day. But I think Republicans need to ease up on this ‘step aside’ nonsense. I think it’s high time conservatives stand together and support one of their own. The Democrats never hesitate to do so, even when the offender is guilty of felony-grade crimes (remember William Jefferson, Democrat from Louisiana?) However, Congressman Akin is only guilty of bad syntax; he committed no crime. Are we worried that women in the United States of America are so sensitive that they will run from the Republican party in November? If that is the case, then we have no hope in any case; everyone slips up now and again, but this one is no harm, no foul. The Democrats will use this to drive a wedge first between Todd and women, then Todd and the nation; that cannot be helped as it is the nature of a beast to do bestial things. Decency is not a familiar trait of liberals, and this gaff is like blood in the water…the sharks are circling. But if Todd is abandoned by the party, the voter on the street, and us here in the blogosphere, what hope can we have of standing together against Obama and his attack dogs?

Congressman Todd Akin may have stumbled, but it is the party that is pushing him down, and that is something we cannot afford. Todd is paying the price for his words already; let the chips fall where they may. Let’s stand with him now, or we will be divided every time a word is uttered that displeases the leftists. Mr. Romney, show the leadership we know you can. Ease up on this, give the voters the benefit of thinking it through, and don’t be reactive.