Election 2012 recap: Obligatory Victory Lap Post

By Nathan Rothwell

I remember like it was yesterday thirty years ago.

It was late 2011, and I was writing a political column for a small community college newspaper. The Republican presidential primaries were just on the horizon, meaning that political pundits and the blogosphere at large was about to turn its primary focus to pontification about who would challenge President Obama for his job in less than a year. And I was somewhat lamenting having to write about it.

I was not looking forward to spending months speculating who would win the presidency when I was already convinced how it would unfold. At the time, I made the following three predictions to just about anyone who would listen:

• Mitt Romney would win the Republican primary and earn the presidential nomination
• Romney would eventually select Governor Chris Christie as his running mate
• The Romney/Christie ticket would go on to lose to Obama in November 2012.

As it turns out, I just barely missed going three for three on my predictions. Paul Ryan would ultimately be selected to round out Romney’s losing ticket, but my other two predictions indeed proved true.

I’m sorry, I’ve put my horn away now – there will be no further tooting. I only bring this up to say that while I did expect Obama to defeat Romney for a good while, what I did not expect was the triumph of liberal candidates and ballot measures that would also earn clear victories last night.

Maine, Maryland, and Washington became the first three states in the union to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote, while Minnesota voters struck down a constitutional measure that would have defined marriage as only between a man and a woman. Washington also made news, along with Colorado, for ending 70 years of marijuana prohibition.

Elizabeth Warren defeated Scott Brown to become the newest Senator from Massachusetts, earning a sweet revenge over the Republicans who blocked President Obama’s attempt to name her director of the newly-created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Tammy Baldwin became America’s first openly gay Senator by defeating Tommy Thompson in Wisconsin. And Republican senatorial candidates Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock, they who believed the rights of unborn cell clusters trumped those of rape victims, were soundly defeated by Claire McCaskill and Joe Donnelly, respectively.

Last night proved to be a night of clear victories for the left in America, which I hope will be remembered by the public and our media long after our post-election hangover. Jon Stewart of The Daily Show joked last night that after two years of campaigning and roughly $3 billion spent on the process, we’re right back where we started. 

To a large extent this is true; the House of Representatives remains in Republican control, while the Democratic majority in the Senate remains not enough to overcome the GOP’s blatant filibuster abuse and rampant obstructionism. So while Mitch McConnell’s dream of basing the entire Republican party platform on making Obama a one-term president has failed, there is little doubt that they will cling to these congressional numbers as an excuse to now make Obama a lame-duck president.

But for now, America appears to have made its choice. Obamacare lives. Rape apologists and “traditional marriage” proponents have been decidedly smacked down in the polls. Marijuana prohibition will soon earn its place alongside alcohol prohibition as one of the more bizarre chapters of American history. And Mitt Romney, assuming his wife’s words were true, will fade off into the political sunset forever.

Go ahead and enjoy your victory lap, Democrats. You’ve earned it. Just don’t forget that when you’ve finished, the Republicans will be waiting with an army of excuses and redoubled resolve in their obstructionism.

Meet Dave Spence: Missouri's Latest Embarrassment

By Nathan Rothwell

Screenshot of Gov. Nixon's ad criticizing Spence

The “Show-Me State” is no stranger to politicians who are all but morally bankrupt. Senator Roy Blunt values the “right” of religious employers to impose their moral codes on their employees, denying them the right to health care. Todd Akin, the man vying to join Blunt this year as Missouri’s other senator, has earned national attention for his views on rape and women’s issues, which appear to stem from the Medieval Era.  

And if this weren’t bad enough, another Missouri politician joins the “How badly can we embarrass this state?” club – Dave Spence, the Republican candidate for governor against incumbent Jay Nixon.

State Democrats have been having fun at the expense of Spence’s campaign, which has at times appeared inept. For example, Spence’s campaign website touted his degree in economics from University of Missouri-Columbia; however, earlier this year it was discovered that Spence in fact did not earn a degree in economics, but rather home economics. Spence claimed it was a simple mistake, but a circulated campaign flier also boasted of Spence’s “economics” degree, also claiming that he attended Mizzou’s business school. While his website eventually corrected the error, it didn’t escape Jay Leno’s ever-watchful eye.

Did Spence and his campaign knowingly lie about his background, or was this a mere clerical error? Some of his supporters argue for the latter, but his history of lying makes that argument difficult to swallow.

Misogynous notions about rape and pregnancy rampant among the right

Todd Akin is getting a real kicking from his own party over remarks he made in which he claimed that women rarely get pregnant from being raped. Not stopping there, he added, "From what I understand from doctors... if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down." 

However, wouldn't it be strange if the same party that has pulled Akin's funding and called for him to step down from the Missouri Senate race he is trying to win, actually had some of the same crazy ideas about rape and pregnancy? On second thought, where did Todd Akin get the strange idea that a woman cannot get pregnant from rape? And where did he get the idea that there are shades of rape? It is not just your imagination. Misogynous ideas about rape and the apparent mystery of female conception are rampant in the right wing, even amongst elected officials. Rachel Maddow points out that the third bill that House Republicans introduced after taking over the chamber in 2010 would have essentially created a new category of rape, called "forcible rape," which is the term Mike Huckabee used when asking Akin what he meant by "legitimate rape." To which Akin replied, yes. Sure does seem awful similar to "legitimate rape."

Kudos to Rachel Maddow and her excellent research staff.

Akin's election hopes may be slipping "off the cuff"

By Nathan Rothwell 

Pictured: Rep (MO) Todd Akin

I've written before about my ties to Missouri, and the embarrassment I invariably feel when another local political figure attracts the wrong kind of spotlight to my home state.

We couldn't even go another six months before Todd Akin, longtime Representative of my voting district and newly anointed Republican candidate for the Senate this year, brought the spotlight back to Missouri - and just when it seemed like everyone had forgotten about Roy Blunt drafting legislation to placate religious figures who had the audacity to shrill that contraceptive services amounted to "rape of the soul."

As I'm sure you've all heard by now, Akin gave an interview on KTVI-TV in which he made the outrageous claim that female rape victims rarely become pregnant. He added further: "From what I understand from doctors... if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

Akin has since backtracked from his not-so-artfully-worded comments in this interview, although his apology comes qualified with more attacks against pro-choice advocates and non sequitur criticism of the Democrats' handling of the economy. As my mother always told me, "If your apology contains the words 'I'm sorry, but....', it's not really an apology."

While Akin presumably hopes that his backtracking will put this issue to rest, his non-apologetic apology actually deserves more investigation. He claims he "misspoke," and his remarks were "off-the-cuff." Dictionary.com defines the term "off-the-cuff" as "with little or no preparation; extemporaneous; impromptu."