From Ryan and Akin: the GOP shows its' true heart

     Even as Rep. Todd Aiken tries to untungle himself from his own mouth and truest heart from his "legitimate rape" comments,  Mitt the Willow desperately tries to disassociate himself from Aiken while never quite telling us what he means when he promises to govern as a "pro-life" President. 

    Now hold on a minute, Mittsy. If Roe v. Wade  is the law of the land and it is, and Roe v. Wade upholds a woman's right to choose, and the President of the United States is sworn to uphold the law of the land ... you see where this breeze blows, Willow?

    Meanwhile, back at the Tampa ranch, the GOP continues to reveal it's own true heart and soul with the drafting of it's party platform in advance of next weeks' primary in Tampa. 

Here's the language of the anti-choice/birthright plank: 

“Faithful to the ‘self-evident’ truths enshrined in the Declaration of Independence, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.  We support a human life amendment to the Constitution and endorse legislation to make clear that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections apply to unborn children.” (emphasis added).

     Rather striking for the complete absence of  any qualifiers, limitations or exceptions in the event of oh, let's say, rape, incest or the safety of the mother, is it not?

     Now, in fairness, if Mittsy would prefer not to run on a less strident agenda message (and when has he ever stood four-square for anything other than that it is his turn to be President?) he would not be the first candidate at odds with his party over the platform. 

     John McCain objected to similar language when he was the standard bearer the last time around.  However, two distinctions must be made: 1) this continued stance by the party influences the substantial flow of campaign finance money down-ticket which is how knuckle draggers like Aiken find themselves in position to challenge for a Senate seat in the first instance; and 2) unlike the McCain-Palin ticket in which the VP candidate was a novelty act without intellectual heft, Mittsy has on his ticket the man he has proclaimed as the intellectual leader of the party, Mr. Atlas Shrugged himself, Paul Ryan. 

     So, we must ask, where does Mr. Ryan stand on the social issues that Mr. Aiken has so clumsily and permanently injected into this campaign? Setting aside Medicare for the time being because, if the Romney campaign has its' way that issue is going to be deeply muzzled throughout the campaign, we have the following: he's "opposed abortion rights (the law of the land if you recall)  has introduced legislation to eliminate Federal programs for family planning,  opposed same-sex marriage and oh, yes, as one who brags of being mugged on his resume, he supports the unfettered rights of gun owners. 

     And, lest we forget or missed it the first time around, in 2009, Ryan and Akin co-sponsored legislation that would have banned tax payer funded abortions. Surprise! The "No Taxpayer funding for Abortion Act" also defined rape as "forcible rape". 

      Under the Ryan-Akin bill, rape would no longer have been considered as such if overt physical violence was not a factor in the crime.  For example, if a date rape drug was slipped into a drink and a woman was raped while she was unconscious, but there was no external physical bruising, this would not be considered forcible rape and the victim would have been precluded from access to abortion.  Statutory rape and incest, absent overt proof of "violence" would have fallen into the same category and the fetus would have to be carried to term - without regard to further consequences. 

     The "forcible rape" language was dropped in the ensuing hue and cry and the legislation died in the Senate, but the fact remains that, however much Ryan now insists "rape is rape" he has been closely aligned with Akin in the past. What, if anything, other than the pending election, has changed his mind and heart? 

    The Romney-Ryan ticket can try to insist that this election is all about the economy, but their own party injected social issues into the campaign.  The fate of the campaign is now entwined within the fervored clasp of the faith based wing of the congregation of which Paul Ryan is a confirmed true believer while the Romney campaign and the rest of the infidels are about to forfeit the opportunity to advance its' own policy arguments. 

    Whether they can make Todd Akin go away for the good of the ticket*, if not the good ol' U.S. of A., they are trying,  but Pandora's box is now wide open.  It's time to choose. 

* They couldn't.