Obama: Akin "somehow missed science class"

President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign stop, Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012, in North Las Vegas, Nev. / AP Photo

(CBS/AP) -- President Obama weighed in on Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin's controversial comments about "legitimate rape" Wednesday, mocking Akin by saying he "somehow missed science class."

"The interesting thing here is that this is an individual who sits on the House Committee on Science and Technology but somehow missed science class," Mr. Obama said at a fundraiser in New York City Wednesday night. "But it's representative of a desire to go backwards instead of forwards. And fights that we thought were settled twenty, thirty years ago."

Meanwhile, Republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan found themselves dragged into a debate over hot-button social issues and answering for differences between their personal positions on abortion, just days before a national convention aimed at showing a unified Republican party. The discussion lingered while President Obama and Romney tangled from afar over issues like education and the deficit.

The GOP ticket dealt with a renewed focus on abortion in the wake of Akin's comments, remarks that have caused an uproar and generated demands from Romney and party leaders for the congressman to quit the race.

The questions over abortion overshadowed events by Romney and Ryan in the battleground states of Iowa, North Carolina and Virginia - three states which Obama carried in 2008 - ahead of next week's Republican convention in Tampa, Fla. Obama rallied supporters in Nevada, the state with the nation's highest unemployment rate of 12 percent, before heading to New York for a basketball-themed fundraiser.

Since selecting Ryan as his running mate, Romney has faced questions about how his policy positions differ from those espoused by Ryan, the architect of a controversial budget blueprint that would dramatically alter Medicare. On abortion, Romney does not oppose abortion in cases of rape and incest or if it will save the mother's life, while Ryan does oppose abortion in cases of rape and incest.

Akin chides "party bosses" for trying to push him out
Sources: Akin may not really be in race for good
Watch: Why is GOP worried about Akin?

Ryan, in an interview with a Pennsylvania TV station, emphasized Romney's role at the top of the ticket, saying he was proud of his record on the social issue.

"I stand by my pro-life record in Congress. It's something I'm proud of. But Mitt Romney is the top of the ticket and Mitt Romney will be president and he will set the policy of the Romney administration," he said.

Ryan defended a bill he cosponsored in the House to permanently ban federal funding for abortion except in cases of incest and "forcible" rape. That language, which was eventually changed, would have narrowed the exception for rape victims. Akin and 225 other members of the House, including 11 Democrats, also cosponsored the bill.

Democrats have tried to tactfully steer the debate over abortion to appeal to female voters, including those living in hotly contested suburbs in battleground states such as Colorado, Florida, Ohio and Virginia. Mr. Obama did not address Akin's comments while campaigning in Nevada, but his campaign honed in on the legislation related to federal funding for abortions.

Obama campaign spokeswoman Lis Smith said Ryan had "worked with Todd Akin to try to narrow the definition of rape and outlaw abortion even for rape victims."

A new AP-GfK poll found that Obama maintained a slight lead among women voters, with 50 percent of women backing the president and 44 percent supporting Romney. The gender gap was similar to a finding in a June AP-GfK poll. Men were more closely divided in the latest AP-GfK poll, with 49 percent for Romney and 44 percent for Obama. In the suburbs, the candidates were closely divided, with 47 percent supporting Romney and 44 percent for Obama.

Akin, who is challenging Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in a race that could determine control of the Senate, was asked in an interview that aired Sunday if abortion should be legal in cases of rape.

Akin said: "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."

Akin has refused to heed calls to step down and now would need a court order by Sept. 25 to leave the race. After that point, there would be no way to remove his name from the ballot. Ryan called the Missouri congressman and unsuccessfully urged him to exit the race, but he said he had no other plans to speak to him about it.

"He's going to run his campaign and we're going to run ours," Ryan said of Akin.

[patriotgal2]

I'm perfectly fine with Akin staying in the race and I hope he does. I'm fine with Akin's blunder coming up again and again during the campaign, to remind America just how ignorant, just butt dumb ignorant, the Republican Party has become. I want people to realize the stark differences between the Republicans and the Democrats. Democrats embrace BOTH science and religion and refuse to accept the Republicans' insistence that somehow government should legislate morality. Paul Ryan believes a woman who is raped and gets pregnant should bear her rapist's child - he's even introduced legislation which would make that the law of the land. I WANT people to be reminded that if Ryan becomes VP, he could well push forward that legislation...and I WANT people to really think about what that might mean for their OWN bodies, let alone their daughters, sisters, mothers, etc. So, yes, I want Akin to stay in the race. Let's see if the people of Missouri are as butt stupid as he is or if they are smarter than that.

[TimeToEvolve]

Again, Akin represents the views of the pathetically stupid Republicon Party. The only major political party in the world that denies the fact of man made global climate change. Man are we still in trouble with these bozos on the loose.

[wfw3536]

While Akin is a jerk who should be out for his dumb comments on rape, Ohama shows us how little he knows about who is in congress when he referred to Akin as a senator.

[AOCGUY]

Well I haven't heard Obama refer to him as a Senator (although he is running forthe US SEnate) but CBS/AP clearly did call Akin that in this article. Maybe it is CBS that you should be criticizing

[AOCGUY]

BTW, When did Obama do this?

[AOCGUY]

I have been away for an hour or so but I would like to thank Trout for his/her underestimation of my self-confidence and feeling of self-worth. I'm more impressed with myself than even you could imagine, but thenI have every reason to be. Of course I don't burden myself with partisan ideology. Personally I am convinced that you are all lost souls on a path to political and moral destruction. I guess that's just to good ol southern boy in me.

[iAceMadman]

by arthanyel August 23, 2012 4:30 PM EDT

I agree the situaitn will never be resolved, but it is, as trout suggests, a relgious issue where one side is attempting to impopse THEIR morality and religious beliefs on everyone else - which they shouldn't.

You simply will not take your medicine, for what's ailing you and this society. You squirm and cross your arms, and say no I won't.

It's such an imposition to the 99% like you. You ought to stop being adolecent in your behavior.

[Dancing-in-the-Streets]

You simply will not take your medicine,
---------------

: /
And who put YOU in charge? LOL

[audemus]

There once was a time in my comments when I went to some trouble to differentiate between the moderate Republican party of "old", and this ultra-right wing extremist Republican party of "now". I can no longer do that. In my opinion, the hate-filled, mean-spirited, intolerant voice of exclusion has completely taken over the Republican party, and has and continues to drown out any voice of reason coming from their own ranks.... and the proof is to be found in whatever direction you care to look. From the recent statements of Missouri Republican Rep. Todd Akin who thinks there is "legitimate" rape and that women have some sort of anti-pregnancy devise built into them that prevents pregnancy in the event of rape....and then Iowa Republican Rep. Steve King defending this lunacy, to this Republican candidate for sheriff in New Hampshire, Frank Szabo, who said he would not rule out the use of deadly force when it comes to preventing abortion...."Take a Life to save a Life." And who could forget the Republican candidate for governor in New York, Carl Paladino saying that the state's poor should be housed in the prisons, or Texas GOP congressional candidate Stephen Broder saying that a violent overthrow of the U.S. government should happen if Republicans don't win at the ballot box....and then there's all the craziness that came from the Christine O'Donnells and Sharon Angles....all Republicans.

Enter now Paul Ryan and his Koch brothers/Ayn Rand inspired disconnected and disconcerting vision of America these mean-spirited fruit-cakes want to see created...who are doing everything their insanity and over-stuffed wallets and purses can dream up and pay for, to bring about this....Fourth Reich. ( There, I said it )

The Republican party has now morphed into something more akin to Hitler's National Socialist Party...that is undeniable except by those people too blind to realize it, or too caught up in denial to admit it. I've said it before, and I'll say it again....the poor in this country have become the new Jews to these extremists, and one need look no further than the right's attack on the so-called entitlement programs that becomes more pronounced and rabid day by day. The scapegoating will continue, and only God knows where it will end up. This is what the Republican party has now become....congratulations ?

[Dancing-in-the-Streets]

by EmpireGeorge______-- August 23, 2012 4:28 PM EDT
no, just the ramblings of a nutcase...lol
---------------------

LOL! I'm really tempted to save that one George! LOL!

[EmpireGeorge______--]

by all means, please do....I've been called worse.

[BOJOKER-Obama_]

by arthanyel August 23, 2012 4:42 PM EDT
That's EXACTLY what the FactCheck link shows. The FactCheck link says specifically his records are not sealed - he just has not released them, because there is no reason to do so.

As for your comments about torture, your immediate name calling and failure to provide any actual facts shows YOUR position. Torture means, "The action or practice of inflicting severe pain on someone as a punishment or in order to force them to do or say something" and neither his dog nor the gay student he attacked deserved having pain inflicted on them.

As for the taxes and the IRS, there is a big difference between doing something that is "legal" and doing something that is appropriate. If Mitt, for example, hid money in his Swiss Bank account and took amnesty in 2009, that would have been "legal" - but is inappropriate for a President. If he contributed to his IRA with Bain shares intentionally valued below market, and now claims that at market rates, that is "legal" - but inappropriate for a President.


-------

Then why did you say he had released them? You better get your story straight because you are now back pedaling and floundering in all your aguments and credibility.
Getting your hair cut off is not "Torture" for crying out loud or your dog riding in a carrier on top of a car. Yo act as if he strapped him to the fender like a deer.



You are now going of on a redundant tanget about Romney's taxes.
Has the IRS charged him with tax evasion? If not then stop beating a dead ho-rse. That is torture and this argument is over.
I feel like I'm arguing with my teenager who want's to go out on a school night.
LOL!

[iAceMadman]

BOJOKER-Obama, he doesn't have the maturity and life experience to know. Seem like you taunt him for fun. Good for you.

[Dancing-in-the-Streets]

Romney did what he did.
How people feel about what he did is up to them, not you.
If they think of it as torture, then it is torture.

[Unsilent_Majority]

Why is it a religious thing to say you believe life begins at conception? I believe life begins at conception but I'm not a religious person. My belief is based on observation. The one universal truth that we can say about all human beings is their lives are measured by aging. There is no disagreement that life comes to end when the aging process comes to an end...we call it death. So wouldn't logic tell us that if life ends at death, when we stop aging, then life must begin at conception, when we start aging? Not forcing that idea on anyone, but its what I believe and its not rooted in religion, but observation, which is the root of science.

[iAceMadman]

Wouldn't you prefer to talk about how Romney conceives how small government will get America back on track?

You triffle on subjects where there is little agreement across the spectrum.

[Unsilent_Majority]

iAceMadman...this message board relates specifically to the Akin contreversey dealing with rape and abortion. If you want to talk about the economy, click on a different story.

[iAceMadman]

by EmpireGeorge______-- August 23, 2012 4:26 PM EDT
troutfishman2, unless the freedom is how much soda ounces you want, how much salt, how much smoke, or any other limitation on freedom the left permits you to have.....don't act all holier than thou, liberalism is very adept at taking away freedoms....don't be fooled so easily.

And this is why we need to take our country back. Liberialism is a religion that enslaves everyone in poverty. It stinks too.

[iAceMadman]

Fish, you should know. Smelling it, ahhhhhhh.

[highpckts]

Well good for you! You want NO regulations or laws that infringe on your ability to destroy yourself or others! What you mean is you want to behave as if you are the only person on this planet??