Akin runs from public, but can't hide long
Yael T. AbouhalkahTodd Akin didn’t help himself with his Friday afternoon media appearance in Missouri.
Sure, everyone knew he was going to stay in the race for the U.S. Senate against Claire McCaskill and not drop out, despite demands by Republicans up to and including presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
And it was probably inevitable that the candidate would put a limit on questions from real, live journalists as opposed to talking-head ultraconservatives such as Mike Huckabee.
Akin isn’t exactly a well-polished speaker when he has to go off his script.
So the media got five questions, most of which allowed Akin to repeat that - by gosh - he was staying in the race.
The final question - what kind of campaigning would he be running - elicited the response from Akin that he would be running a regular one.
Uh, no, he won’t.
Just this week he took to Twitter and other social media to raise $125,000 to kickstart his fundraising after other GOP-related groups backed out of donating to his cause.
Then, he avoided the Missouri public, the press and any sort of regular campaigning for four days. Instead, he reportedly ran down to Florida to seek support and money from conservative groups.
Finally, with Friday’s appearance, Akin briefly showed up to take a few questions and be seen in public.
But after just a few minutes of give and take, Akin bolted for the door.
Hardly senatorial. Hardly the kind of person you would think is ready to be a U.S. senator and make all kinds of tough calls in Washington.
It will be interesting to see how long Akin plays this game of hide and seek with the Missouri voters.
Dan Hartshorn
9 months, 4 weeks agoYA’s typical of democrat hypocrisy. Democrats misspeak and are given a pass - shoot, democrats can even use the Oval Office for sleazy behavior and never once be reprimanded by their party or told to resign. But instead conservatives are laughed at and told “It’s just sex.” But let a Conservative misspeak and he is put on a spit and slowly grilled over a hot fire. Maybe Akin should resign as it appears he has lost the public’s confidence, but at the same time the dems are engaging in the politics of personal destruction. At this point I would vote for a yellow dog before I’d vote for a democrat.
Kent Mueller
9 months, 3 weeks agoI am a conservative who continues to call for Akins to withdraw. But, Yael……..please use the same measuring stick for all politicians. If you don’t write for Entertainment Tonight, you probable have a very low expectation to ask Obama a question. Please use the same measuring stick for all.