unnecessary ultrasound against their will and potentially against doctor's orders. paul ryan's bill for doing that at the federal level had no exemptions for rape or incest. the furor in virginia over the forced ultrasounds bill is widely viewed as having derailed virginia governor bob mcdonnell's chances at being thpg year's vice presidential nominee. honestly, i think that's because he got famous for it. he wasn't famous for much else, now he's governor ultrasound. of course he can't be the vice presidential pick. in skipping governor ultrasound, in skipping bob mcdonnell, mitt romney honestly just picked somebody else who had the exact same policy record as governor ult ultrasound. why didn't the same policy record also derail paul ryan's chances at getting picked for the number two spot on the ticket? now that missouri u.s. senate candidate todd akin has become the latest republican politician to articulate the pseudo scientific thinking behind this long-standing strand of republican politics, now that there is a full scale freakout