john, but i m surprised how much conversation the todd akin comments have brought about. i m just talking about men and women. would you acknowledge that this is not the conversation the republican party wanted to be having just days before the convention? absolutely not. clearly first of all, almost in a universal voice, the republicans came out and criticized akin for his comments. saying it was wrong, you saw the calls for him to get out of the race. i just want to make sure we differentiate, because i think there are two things. one is the comments he made about rape, which is disavowed, but the other brings up this whole issue of choice, it brings up the whole controversy over the war on women, and so i think and it also brings up a relationship that a lot of democrats are drawing between todd akin and the vice presidential nominee and the