Roe v. Wade v. the Defense Budget

Roe v. Wade v. the Defense Budget

By Thursday, August 23rd, 2012 2:59 pm
Posted in Commentary, Election, Policy

Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) got himself in hot water during an interview with a local St. Louis TV station earlier this week by using the term “legitimate rape” and by suggesting that the female body has the capacity to reject a rape-induced pregnancy. The interview created an uproar that has jeopardized his chances of winning the Missouri Senate seat he’s currently running for — a race he had a good chance of winning thanks to his opponent Claire McCaskill’s own missteps in recent years. Never mind the progressives, principals in his own party are calling for him to get out of the race.

At the same time Akin is vacating his congressional seat. The senate and congressional races are in phase for him this year and there’s another Republican, Ann Wagner, running behind him. (And she’s raised a bunch of money so far too.)

So it’s safe to say the House Armed Services Committee is losing the current Sea Power subcommittee chairman — a title that Akin currently holds. In turn, it may turn out that the Senate doesn’t gain a defense supporter — “Mr. F-18″ as Akin is known in some circles. (He even has an “Aces for Akin” theme happening on his election site.) So how does that shift in power play out in a time of sequestration-level pressure on DoD?


As Akin’s opening statement during 2012 NDAA testimony illustrates, the services most at risk without him on the Hill are the Navy and the Air Force. Akin’s main defense company is Boeing, therefore he’s a key player in the “use Hornets to fill the void made by JSF IOC sliding ever to the right” discussion. His love of Hornets makes him a de facto proponent of carrier aviation, which underwrites the future of carrier shipbuilding and all the infrastructure associated with that enterprise. He also wants the Air Force to move on the next generaton bomber and believes nuke subs are not relics of Tom Clancy novels written 30 years ago.

So a clunky, insulting pro-life stance might eventually affect defense budget priorities and the magnitude of cuts. And you thought Don’t Ask Don’t Tell was the only social issue that might impact the military this year.

Join the Conversation

Lance August 23rd, 2012 at 2:57 pm

The main reason sequestration will hit is because of congress full of men like this. face JLTV ICC mad it to a point before congress kill them.

OldRetSWO August 23rd, 2012 at 4:45 pm

Good piece by my ex-shipmate. This does show what the unintended consequences of that whole flap could be.

Michael August 23rd, 2012 at 5:09 pm

Roe vs. Wade, early ’73, is SETTLED LAW, according to the current chief justice, conservative John R. Roberts. I think the GOP, the Grand Obstructionist Party, is determined to overturn the law and insist that every DA in every American county prosecute every teen and woman who undergoes an abortion for manslaughter, if not murder. I want to hear a pro-lifer declare that that is not true. Come on, say it.

tmb2 August 23rd, 2012 at 5:57 pm

Thank you for going WAAAAY off topic.

bobbymike August 23rd, 2012 at 6:47 pm

Hard to disprove ignorance

Geoffry August 23rd, 2012 at 6:48 pm

That’s not true. There, I said it. :)

Drake August 23rd, 2012 at 7:26 pm

It seems like this website is slowly getting dragged down into the morass of conventional politics. Why the need to even mention Roe v Wade in the first place?

BlackOwl18E August 23rd, 2012 at 10:15 pm

*Slaps forehead* This is why we can’t have nice things…

Rhys F, August 23rd, 2012 at 11:57 pm

You would think that someone who is supposely intelligent enough to represent consistuents would know basic biology… once sperm meets egg it’s allover bar te screaming 9 months later.

Biology doesnt CARE how the sperm met the egg in the first place, test tubes, consensual or rape…

Surely there must be a less blinkered canditate out there?

chris August 24th, 2012 at 1:58 am

Since we are so off topic. Great story by the way, maybe the title not so much. Anybody else want to sue Janet Napolean. Maybe for false advertising? Totally was embarrased when I insisted at a party that our NHS director was a man, Or how about for negligence? Hiring a bunch of high school drop outs, thieves and perverts to be in charge of keeping our transportation safe.

mammajamma August 24th, 2012 at 8:36 am

I’ll get outraged at Akin’s comments when the left stop idolizing the murderous ted kennedy and his whole corrupt klan.

bobbymike August 24th, 2012 at 8:51 pm

Don’t forget that honored speaker at this year’s Democrat convention who Nora O’Donnell said there was “credible evidence he raped Juanita Broderick” everybody please welcome.….…..BILL CLINTON!!!!

PolicyWonk August 27th, 2012 at 12:38 pm

So… You aren’t angry that George W Bush took this nation to invade Iraq because Saddam Hussein “tried to kill my daddy”? We lost over 4,000 US servicemen/women lives, 40,000 wounded, over $1 trillion spent so far ($3 trillion by the time its done), not counting the Iraqi lives lost, or the worst foreign policy and national security disaster in US history (or the crushed US economy, financial system, debt to the communist chinese, etc.).

And you’re bringing up Ted Kennedy? Perhaps given the horrifying extent of the damage done to this nation by what passes for republicans these days, you might reconsider your priorities.

OldRetSWO August 27th, 2012 at 1:45 pm

With a userID like “PolicyWonk”, I’d expect that you would understand a lot more about the leadup and execution of the Iraq war but saying its because “he tried to kill my daddy” kind of throws away any credibility that you might have had. Did he try to kill Clinton’s daddy too? Bill Clinton sure threw ordnance at Iraq and had some very interesting intelligence that he spoke of. Maybe George W Bush provided “lying intelligence” before he even got elected.
Then there are the many many cease fire violations where Iraq committed hostile acts against our forces. I was there in “98–99″ and this was almost a daily occurance. All we needed was ONE incident to justify a resumption of the Gulf War and we had literally hundreds of them. I was there and saw it with my own eyes.
But I must be mistaken because PolicyWonk says it was because Saddam tried to kill Bush’s daddy

JoeT August 27th, 2012 at 4:50 pm

And just for completeness, I’ll take the other side and say that it is true — and so what? If abortion is illegal because it is murder (one person intentionally taking the life of another innocent person), then why shouldn’t every woman who commits murder be prosecuted? Simply because it is now socially acceptable to kill your baby? Because people like you will look at one side of reality (the pregnancy is inconvenient for the mother) and completely ignore the other side (the pregnancy is a life or death situation for the child)? Because you will whine and complain? Because, as Obama so revealingly phrased it, a woman should not be “punished” for an unwanted pregnancy by having to forfeit her convenience to save another person’s life?

Your only REAL complaint is that while you WISH this were SETTLED by Roe v. Wade, reality doesn’t suit your wishes.

Bob C. August 29th, 2012 at 9:03 pm

What else could be expect from a politician??????

Guest August 29th, 2012 at 9:27 pm

Dig just a little deeper. He’s only an F-18 (Boeing fan) as the aircraft is manufactured in his state. Same reason for the upgraded bomber..he only want jobs in his district. Guys in his position should clearly be smarter than the words he let utter from his mouth. I’m embarrassed as a US citizen that guys like this can even get elected and are allowed to represent us.

Space Hawk August 30th, 2012 at 2:48 am

Guam is turning over. Russia has been added to the World Trade Organization. Trust Greeks bearing bonds. The world is too complicated a place for ‘simple’ politicians.

doningram August 30th, 2012 at 12:56 pm

men and women have come into this world equally, women should not be dominated by men. if a woman wants to make her choice as to what happens to her life then it should be her choice, not some person standing on a platform using the right to choose for a topic to win elections. if a man wants to keep all babies then go ahead get pregnant and keep the one you deliver and support. some people have lost sight of the fact we started this country to have freedom and that is for both sexes not for one to dominate the other.

Petermaxx1990 August 31st, 2012 at 12:17 am

You want to talk about embarassment at a person bing in office? Just look at the Democrats unholy trinity — Barack Hussein Obama, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi. They are an embarassment. They continuously and intentioanlly lied to all of America with their bullspit over the last 6 years. Making a comment like Akins is dumb, but it doesn’t even get ito the top 1000 things that are egrigious by politicians that these three have committed. And if you want to top it off, let them bring in their little dog Joe Biden, too.

Petermaxx1990 August 31st, 2012 at 12:28 am

Does that liberalism also apply to my right to exercise my religion anywhere I choose? Can I say prayers where ever I wish? What about equal taxation? Flat rate tax versus what we have now? don’t the people who are not paying any taxes also use the same infrastructure that those of us who pay taxes do? Shouldn’t they also be paying for our country instead of being “parasites”? Shouldn’t photo voter ID’s be required to keep all politicians from stealing elections? Why are photo ID’s OK in the northern states, but unconstitutional in southern states? The civil war ended a long time ago. If a woman wants to have a partial birth abortion, why is that OK with the liberals, but owning firearms which is guaranteed by our Constitution some premonition of death and destruction? There are more murders performed in abortion clinics every year than there are by legally owned firearms.

Petermaxx1990 August 31st, 2012 at 12:28 am

And yes, I agree that there are some circumstances where a woman should be able to have an abortion… rape, incest, to save the life of the mother, and for severe genetic defects or severe retardation caused by drugs or disease. But there is a limit on the gestation period that this should be allowed except to save the life of the mother.…

Henry September 1st, 2012 at 10:20 am

As the female fish lay eggs it is called Roe the male fish then Wade.… as this is prolific life.

The right to life, liberty and the pursuit of our happiness, although, at the Federal Level it is a tenant only of our US Constitution. What people think, do or believe beyond “State then Federal Law” is always in “political debate” as a matter of opinions, Judgments, time and mostly our Tax Money as the buzz from the bees in Washington D.C. is they will always be greedy for more of our honey too .….…

$20 MIKE September 2nd, 2012 at 9:41 am

Bumper sticker on my truck…’”ARE YOU A MAN? then shut up about abortion!”.….. same goes for menopause,hysterectomy,etc.… it is TOTALLY N.O.Y.F.B.….yer welcome.

Oclaf September 9th, 2012 at 3:51 pm

guys in that position should be smarter, problem is, they arent! and you probably keep voting for them…

Oclaf September 9th, 2012 at 3:55 pm

petermaxx, so anyone who has an opinion on abortion that says, its not your place as a man to say what a woman can or cannot do is a liberal? lets stick with the subject here, as a man, you have nothing to say about when, where, or why regarding a womans choice to abort a child she is carrying, how much more simple can it be? why do you feel otherwise? why do you feel you can tell a woman she cannot have an abortion? ‘splain please?

Oclaf September 9th, 2012 at 4:00 pm

and you feel that because you feel this way, its the only way? ‘petermaxx1990 law says so!’…its great you feel that way, but you cannot impose your thinking on others, no? so long as its not your wife/girlfriend having the abortion, how is it your business? and how does your thinking apply? i am all for you saying you dont think its right with your beliefs and your way of life as you live it, but that doesnt mean it should be the law and lastly, what does ones stance on a womans choice have to do with running the country whether as a state rep or president? tell me how you are going to help folks succeed thru jobs not how you want to control women, which is what your view is.

Oclaf September 9th, 2012 at 4:46 pm

Amen $20 mike!!!

$20MIKE September 11th, 2012 at 8:25 pm

life could be so simple, BUT NO!!! by the way,thanks for your comment! $20MIKE SAID THAT!

JoeT October 24th, 2012 at 10:18 am

Lame. The real issue of course is whether killing an unborn child is murder or not. It really is that simple. It has NOTHING to do with men oppressing women. To pretend that only men are pro life, while all women are pro abortion is just that — pretending. But I will admit, it is entertaining to watch people tie themselves into knots trying to twist the question of “Is abortion murder?” into all kinds of diversionary topics (womens rights, health care rights, freedom OF religion, freedom FROM religion, and most entertaining of all, the constitutional right to privacy (HA!).

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