Look, Todd Akin wouldn’t be the nominee right now if it weren’t for Mike Huckabee’s endorsement. And he wouldn’t keep his support in the churches if Huckabee very publicly urged him to withdraw. Instead, Huckabee is acting as an enabler for Akin, putting Akin on his radio show in a way designed to try to salvage Akin’s now-hopeless candidacy. But this isn’t about Akin: It’s about the future of the country. Akin now is an almost certain lock to lose a seat that a conservative otherwise would win. That one seat could mean the difference between repealing ObamaCare or not repealing it. There are other pro-life Missouri Republicans who can win the race and who will vote to repeal ObamaCare. Without repealing ObamaCare, the demonstrably evil HHS mandate (evil because that which tramples religious liberty is intrinsically evil) could still go into effect. Even if Akin is too dim to see this on his own, it is incumbent on Huckabee to make him see it.
This is no time for niceties. This is a time for hardball. No matter what Akin meant to say, what he said is so ignorant and offensive as to be disqualifying. A moral leader, as Huckabee aspires to be, would see that, and use his considerable weight accordingly.
Sure, the left has a double standard on this sort of thing. State Sen. Barack Obama did not say “rape is rape” and must always be condemned when Lisa Myers showed rather convincingly that Bill Clinton told Juanita Broaddrick to “put some ice on that.” But that’s not what is at issue here. What is at issue here is, first of all, the idea of taking responsibility for one’s own inexcusable statements, and taking the punishment accordingly (i.e., it is Akin’s responsibility to withdraw); secondly, taking responsibility for an endorsement gone wrong and doing all in one’s power to correct it (i.e. Huck’s responsibility to try to force Akin from the race); and third, the responsibility of Akin and all his supporters to see the larger picture that shows, clearly, that he is hurting the very causes he says he wants to champion.
If Akin doesn’t get out of the race today, he is a louse of the first order. If Huck can help Akin prove he’s not a louse, Huck should do so.