The Washington Examiner reports that Democrats are going to try to keep the Todd Akin controversy alive through their convention. At Powerline, John Hinderaker argues that this is the worst possible move for the Obama campaign:
We can only pray that this report is true, and that the Democrats devote all three days in Charlotte to discussions of abortion rights, rape and contraception. If there is one thing we can say with certainty this year, it is that the overwhelming majority of voters don’t want to hear about the social issues. They want to know how we are going to climb out of the four-year economic funk that has been the Obama administration. If undecided viewers tune into the Democratic convention and hear all about abortion, and tune into the Republican convention and hear all about the economy, Romney will win in a landslide.
The thing is, if Democrats talk about the economy, they also lose. They’ve been running a very targeted campaign since the beginning, reaching out to key groups on issues that are unrelated to the economy. Their main targets are Hispanic voters, women and senior citizens — they’ve already locked up the first group, and apparently they think this will help them with the second.
One Republican strategist told the New York Times today that the latest social issues strategy will end up costing Democrats the opportunity to define Paul Ryan before the GOP convention. Maybe — but why does that matter? The Obama campaign had more than enough time to successfully define Sarah Palin post-convention in 2008. And if the last few months are any prediction, Obama’s Mediscare campaign against Ryan in the fall will probably make the Priorities USA steelworker ad look tame.
The point of the Democrats’ “war on women” clamor isn’t to make a case for reelection. It’s to knock Romney and Ryan off-message, and divert attention away from their economic prescriptions at the most critical moment for Republicans. The clock is ticking for Ryan to define himself before the end of the GOP convention, when the Medicare attacks will start up full-force.
Thanks to the Akin debacle, the press is on a hair-trigger right now over any stories that involve abortion or social issues. All it will take is one poorly-phrased remark from a random Republican delegate (or, in a pinch, one explosive comment from Joe Biden in Tampa), and the entire Republican convention will be knocked off-message. Democrats are trying to make sure the GOP convention is about anything other than the economy, and as long as the media remains as cooperative as it has been, there’s a chance it could actually work.
Ms Goodman – you're killing me today! Earlier you wrote off the Senate because of Akin, and now this: n"Their main targets are Hispanic voters, women and senior citizens — they’ve already locked up the first group, and apparently they think this will help them with the second." Hispanics locked up? What does that mean? What percentage of the vote in Nov would constitute "locked-up"? But here's the real problem with that statement – if the Democrats try to get women on board by emphasizing how strongly in favor of abortion on demand they are, might that not "unlock" some of the Hispanic vote? The broader problem, of course, is the Democrats' reliance on a seemingly infinite number of special interest groups that don't necessarily like one another. nAnother problem is perhaps more abstract, but might be quite important this year – Democrats aren't offering anything that deals meaningfully with the issues people actually care about. The At any rate, Republicans, as far as I can tell, aren't getting sucked into the abortion debate. Conservatives sometimes act as if the Democrats are possessed of superpowers that make them wilier than us and enable them to focus people's attention where they really don't want to be focusing – like mass hypnosis or something. The reality, of course, is that they are hyper-cynical, incredibly arrogant, nasty, devoid of fresh ideas and dishonest. The voters know this, now (unlike 2008). Screaming bloody murder because a few nonentities make moronic comments is not going to turn this election around.
Sarah Palin kind of defined herself, unfortunately.
The Democrats seem to be focusing on putting together a coalition—that will guarantee them defeat on Election Day. Only the bluest of Americans are this rabidly pro-abortion. Many Catholic bishops and blue collar laypeople also have long tried to ignore this aspect of Obama's platform. He is making it impossible to do so.
bingo
Alana, you are missing one really big possibility — what is essentially a pro-life nation, and MO is a particularly pro-life state, starts asking the three or four 'but what about' questions that no one has yet. n nOne of which is the following — if (a) human life starts at conception and (b) a woman gets pregnant via rape, then is not the fetus/baby an innocent victim of this horrific crime? Would this not be the same thing as a bystander killed by a policeman's stray bullet? n nI wonder. I still wonder about the statistical likelihood of a woman who had been violently raped *and* who viscerally does not want a child to have a successful pregnancy — we already know about the very large number of women who adopt a child after having been told they never will be able to have their own — and then wind up pregnant a few months later. The mind is a powerful thing — and has a far greater impact on the body than we often realize. n nNotwithstanding that, stuff like Scott Brown's pro-VAWA campaign advertising — there will be a backlash….
I don't think this Akin stuff is about abortion – it's about his comment. Many people who agree with him on or don't care about abortion as a political issue might simply decide he's unfit to be a senator.
I fully agree with mike_ste. There are many, many pro-life advocates who were scandalized by Akin's words. Just look at the list of who asked him to resign (Palin, Ashford, Limbaugh, Hannity, Levin and many others). It was the sheer stupidity of the remarks that turned people on him. Just imagine what other things he will say in the next two months…
I originally thought that Todd Akin misspoke. It turns out that he is truly an intellectual embarrassment. This man cannot win! Moreover, i strongly suspect that at least half of his financial donations are from cynical Democrats.
I think the Dem convention will continue to pound "social issues" and to tall about the economy through the class warfare framework (let's raiss taxes on the one percent), and to hammer Romney about Bain and his taxes. It really is true that they have no alternative and long ago decided to make the election about muddying Romney for swing voters and turning out their base.
Maybe you can explain to me what hew was talking about…