McCaskill: Akin makes Bachmann "look like a hippie"

(CBS News) After making yet another set of controversial gender-related remarks on Thursday, the backlash against Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin continues - with Democrats blasting him as a "fringe" candidate and a key Republican calling the race "unwinnable" for the GOP.

On Thursday, Akin took a shot at his opponent, incumbent Democrat Claire McCaskill, for what he called her "aggressive" behavior -- noting that she "was much more ladylike" the last time she ran for office. He also argued he'll win the race because the fact that she demonstrated "aggressive" behavior signals, in his eyes, that McCaskill "feels threatened."

McCaskill responded to his comments on Friday, telling MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that she's "at a loss" for what to say about them.

"I don't know exactly what his accusation that I'm not ladylike means," McCaskill said. "I'm a former courtroom prosecutor and I try to be strong and informed. And I think the debate was tough for Todd, because I went through the list of his very, very extreme positions and I think that maybe he wasn't prepared to answer to some of that, and so they went back to, I think, that old, 'Gosh she was mean and unladylike.'"

Expressing the hope that his remarks would motivate her supporters, McCaskill targeted Akin as a "fringe" candidate who would never works to solve problems through compromise.

"If you look at some of the things that Todd Akin has said over the years... this is somebody who kind of makes Michele Bachmann look like a hippie," she said. "He is very much in a group of people that would never be part of the compromise that we need to find to address the fiscal cliff. He would never be part of the group in the middle that actually figures out ways to solve these problems."

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a fellow Democrat, sent out a fundraising email to her own supporters on Friday, urging them to help defeat a candidate who made the "demeaning, but not surprising" comment.

"When I first heard Akin defending his absolutist stance against abortion, I was shocked. He actually said that 'the female body has ways to try to shut that whole [pregnancy] thing down,'" Gillibrand's letter reads, referring to the controversial comments Akin made in August. "I hoped those words would make it impossible for him to win. But when you've got a Republican Party that will do anything to win the Senate, they'll support anyone with an 'R' after their name - no matter how reprehensible his beliefs."

"That means it's up to us - you and me - to make sure Todd Akin does not win in Missouri. But we have to do it now, before the big September 30 FEC filing deadline. We really don't have a minute to lose," the letter says.

Despite some recent talk of renewed Republican support for Akin - former Missouri Sen. Kit Bond is endorsing him and at least two conservative groups have already vowed to give him funding -- Sen. John Cornyn, Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, suggested on Thursday that the NRSC will not back Akin after all. 

"We have no plans to do so," Cornyn told the Kentucky Courier-Journal. "I just think that this is not a winnable race... We have to make tough calculations based on limited resources and where to allocate it, where it will have the best likelihood of electing a Republican senator."

[levelheadedtoo]

Women of Missouri, Wake the F%$k up!!!! Get out and vote. Put this 16th century fossil back in his bottle.

Akin is a "Legitimate Rape" on our society.

[jandj6488]

Yay...the Senate race in my state has degraded into a third grade recess shouting match. I may have to avert my eyes when I vote.

[johnsthougts]

Sorry to hear that BLUEJACKET2-2009, You are missing some of the best country in the usa, Go to east st. Louis the state that The president represented, the drug infested area. Same with the DC area where the President resides
Nut case in Aurora CO. Same in DC, Same in texas, this morning in MN. McCasKILL in MO. Sad to hear you missed the hills in missouri.

[readg821]

I wonder how Akin can publicly broadcast his beliefs without documentation of facts. If there were a "Fact Check" screening booth, like the one used in airline security, Akin would have all the sirens going off! What I really wonder, WHO are all those people backing him??? Scary.

[johnsthougts]

We have been dumb down for the past 30 years, the surpreme court has upheld lies to the public, because it has happened since the begining of this country.

President Obama is using the the 47% in his ads so he can capture the 47% VOTE, you know the 10% OF THE 47% that the press can't think on there own, the press love these 47%.

[twmat311]

You have to excuse Akin; he has a condition that, when legitimate comment is about to occur, the brain sort of shuts down and prevents conception of intelligent speech. It's true - there's plenty of evidence; he's demonstrated it repeatedly.

[bluejacket2-2009]

Akin is one of those old south bigots... it's quite shocking the people of Missouri are showing any support at all for this nutcase. At one time I was going to take a vacation in the hills of Missouri but was told not to do so because "they are a strange breed in those Missouri hills"... I cancelled my trip and I'm glad I did.

[johnsthougts]

I Dislike/ this government buit love this country, because it is runinningf on the the backs of the american people since the begining of this country. Not the politicians, It will be a matter of time if government don't change we will be voting for people that wasn't born here sad to say because th press ruins any body good to help this country out.

[5541james]

Do a little research about how much support claire and the dems gave to akin in the primary . Its such a joke for her to act like she doesnt know how he won .