for an abortion in case of rape. the republicans had a bill last year which paul ryan cosponsored that would have said federal funds can only be used in the case of forcible rape. that didn t pass. the bill was changed, but paul ryan was a cosponsor of that. so as far as i m concerned, paul ryan s views line up very neatly with todd akin s views. howard, you know this guy s not alone there. tony perkins, who s been on this program and i ve been rebuked a number of times for even letting him show up on this show. but i want people to hear that point of view. they re going to vote in november. they ought to know what they re getting on that right wing side. of the family research council, supporting this guy. yes. that s right. and i think what s going to happen now is that the romney ryan headquarters up in boston have said that the ticket is unified.
welcome back to hardball. if todd akin insists on staying in that race out in missouri, he will have accomplished two things for democrats. possibly mortally wounded candidate, he may hand the democrats a senate seat that until yesterday they figured to lose. so, how will the democrats attack and how will republicans react? todd, buddy, the ball is in your court. would you keep this guy? despite what he said? i agree with chairman john cornyn who said he ought to step aside. these comments, not only are they outrageous and reprehensible, but from a purely political strategic standpoint, this is a massive distraction and as long as he remains the republican nominee, that distraction is going to continue. but tony perkins of the family research council, one of
harm s way, shameless hussies, are out there charging rape. that s the view that is implicit in todd akin s comments. howard, i wanted to start with a woman here just because of the obvious nature of what we re talking about. i want to get back to you on the politics here, the pure politics of this what does this fella mean? i followed the rest of his statement trying to figure out what he s trying to say here. you know, i think there should be some punishment. some punishment? it used to be a capital crime in much of the country. there should be some punishment for rape. well, we got to do something to this guy. but the punishment ought to be on the rapist. what kind of thinking is this guy engaged in? does he really believe in rape? i don t know what he s talking about. what matters here and makes this important politically is not what it might or might not do to the missouri senate race. whether he stays in or not et cetera. claire mccaskill s chances of re-election or not.
this wasn t a gaffe. this is thinking on his part. my question is this. in other words, if a woman is threatened with her life, her children s life, a knife s up to her neck, a gun s at her head and she has sex with a guy under that threat of life or danger to her well being, is that a rape unless it s a physically overwhelming force? i mean, what is he actually what s he trying to parse here? what s he trying to say? unless she is beaten within an inch of her life or has a gun pointed at her head, it s not really rape. that s what the thinking here is. again, they believe that a woman who yells rape was doing something she had no business doing. they don t believe that a woman who is going about her business at her office, going to the car in a mall parking place, can be raped, assaulted by a stranger. they believe only women who are somehow putting themselves in
i think he ll be gone by 5:01. let me ask you about paul ryan. he probably won t be gone, todd. and my question about todd aki paul ryan, he is the cosponsor of a bill called the personhood amendment, which says you re a person after conception. if that s the case, you re basically murdering somebody if you participate in any kind of abortion or use of an iud. now, the question is, he s totally against any kind of abortion under any circumstances. isn t he basically the same as todd akin? come on. what s the difference a guy who says it s murder if you have an abortion or a guy who says there s no such thing as having a pregnancy after a rape. they both deny the need for any kind of alleviation or liberalism in term of a woman s right to choose. to conflate what todd akin has said, with the idea that women somehow biologically can