Romney, Ryan, and Akin, oh my!

These things I’ve read trouble me:

A quote: "I'm as pro-life as a person gets," Ryan told The Weekly Standard, a conservative magazine, in 2010.

And an article: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/the_rumble/2012/08/todd-akin-paul-ryan-and-the-very-real-war-on-women

(excerpt)
Akin and Ryan were the original co-sponsors of the controversial bill H.R. 3, “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act,” which initially included language which changed the definition of “rape” to “forcible rape,” until public pressure forced the bill’s supporters to remove that unacceptable and narrow definition. As I wrote previously, Paul Ryan is not just anti-choice; his anti-choice views are extreme and just plain bad for all women.

Linking Ryan to Akin and the idea that there is such a thing as “legitimate rape” based on pseudo-science and folklore is something that needs to be done before the upcoming election. While Team Romney attempted to create distance with Akin, saying that both Romney and Ryan “disagree” with his statements, there was nothing in their statement that said they condemn his remarks as hurtful to victims. There was also nothing in Team Romney’s statement that pointed out that what Akin said about pregnancies resulting from rape being rare is just flat-out wrong.
(/excerpt)

Wait? What? What year is it? 2012? Yup, but guess what happened in 2011? Todd Akin and Paul Ryan cosponsored H.R. 3! 3! Third bill on the calendar year for congress... they could not wait to go full bore into a war on women. Don't take my word for it. Search the record, look at what is going on in our country in 2012.

It's not even close to funny anymore.  C’mon, we all got a good chuckle out of the Republican Primary, right? And then we got Romney. Go ahead and admit it. You chuckled a little. But then he picked Paul Ryan as his running mate. And yet, he still is at 44% in the current polls. How can these two misogynists have so many supporters? It is incredible. I stare in disbelief at my computer screen and TV almost daily. I thought the Republican Primary was funny. But don’t think this is funny anymore.

We are less than 80 days away from the election and 44% of voters are agreeing with these two knuckle dragging Neanderthals. How is that so? This is not funny anymore. There is indeed a Republican War on Women. Please wake up America. These guys will set us back 50 years...

Wow… What a nightmare it must be to be a woman today. I am saddened by the lengths at which Republicans will go to ... I don’t know... what the hell are they doing?

I've been registered as a Republican since Reagan! I was embarrassed by George Bush Jr., but this primary season was the last straw. It did not really matter what party I had as my registration. I could vote in the Primary for the weakest candidate and laugh. Except, when I went to vote in the Primary and the poll worker called out my party designation... I felt shame. I am no longer a registered Republican. The last three years of racism and misogyny have shamed me out of the party.

In Pennsylvania 750,000 voters could be disenfranchised and unable to vote because of the GOP. That is the margin President Obama won by in 2008. That feels like cheating. In several states... wait... Ohio too. They tried to change early voting rules. Florida? The news cycles are dizzying. There are now new voting rules in state after state. There is an assault on Planned Parenthood. And it is so much more.

Somehow “Jobs, Jobs, Jobs" has turned into "Jobs, Jobs, J-abortion". Do not think for a minute that they don't have a chance. They do.

 44% of likely voters support them. It is scary...

Who is voting for these guys?

I am embarrassed as a man for the ignorance that has been allowed to fester and grow in this country during the last decade. I remember being vaguely aware of the E.R.A. and confused as to why it was an issue. I was a small child and wondered why my mom was not considered an equal. I barely knew the words that grown-ups were discussing on the TV. I scoffed as a young man when Nancy Reagan told us to "Just Say No." But for some reason, I joined the Republican Party.

I was weary of the Christian Coalition but believed in the Separation of Church and State; but my mind cannot believe how they have recreated themselves as a Tea Party Juggernaut. And who really trusted Newt Gingrich when he was speaker of the house. But I hoped that fiscal responsibility would save the day. It does in my own personal life but these Republicans lied. They are neither for Fiscal responsibility nor for Freedom.

Freedom is about choices. And ever since President Obama was elected I have seen some of the ugliest hate, racism, and ignorance I’ve had the misfortune of witnessing. I knew it was out there, but I chose not to see it. I shrugged it off as a few bad apples. But now there are just too many bad apples to ignore.

Paul Ryan may not be racist, but his view of what choices women should be allowed to make certainly make him sexist. Paul Ryan co-sponsored a federal Personhood Amendment. Amendment. He wanted to change the constitution in order to overturn Roe vs. Wade. This guy voted to defund Planned Parenthood and Mitt Romney has said he too wants to defund it. Paul Ryan opposes all abortions, except when the life of the mother is at risk. And, he wants the same ultrasound thing that other states have forced upon their women. If men got pregnant, this would not be a requirement.

This is a scary year. How is it so? Why are we going backward in time?