Former Republican U.S. Rep. Todd Akin of Missouri died late Sunday at age 74,” the AP tells us in its Twitter feed. “He sunk his 2012 bid for Senate with a comment about ‘legitimate rape.’”
In shrinking a man’s life to a single sound bite, the AP not only betrayed the essence of the man, but it also missed the nut of the story. Akin did not sink his bid. That bid was sunk from under him by the GOP’s most calculating bigwigs, none more soulless than strategist Karl Rove. “We should sink Todd Akin,” Rove publicly joked that August. “If he’s found mysteriously murdered, don’t look for my whereabouts!”
I got to know Todd Akin well over the years. I first met him in October 2012. Although I supported one of his opponents in Missouri’s senatorial primary that August, I was asked to introduce him and Newt Gingrich then stumping for Todd in a last ditch effort to salvage his campaign.
Two years later, I edited Todd’s book, Firing Back. In the course of this project I met Todd’s stalwart wife Lulli and many of his six children, all of whom adored their father and stuck with him through his travails. If there was a more decent and authentic Christian and conservative in politics, I have not met that person.
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