President Obama said it best: "Rape is rape".  Inaccurate and ill-conceived remarks regarding rape made by Rep. Todd Akin (R-Missouri) this weekend, have taken hold of the Presidential campaign.  Akin is running for Senate and not suprisedly, he's taking a lot of hits today for talking about "legitimate rape".  He went on the air today to clarify, saying what he meant was "forcible rape".  Not much of a retraction.  And did a doctor really tell him rape rarely results in pregnancy? When you say inflammatory things in the media, don't expect the story to just fade away.

The President is using this controversy to appeal to women voters.  And the Romney/Ryan camp has chastised Akin.  Other Republicans are calling for him to drop out of the race.  Akin was more than "off message", he was a disaster in the "Jaco Report" TV interview.  I can't imagine Paul Ryan is thrilled about being dragged into this mess.  He and Akin have co-sponsored abortion legislation.  Look for this to be front and center in the Vice Presidential debates, as the media presses the VP candidate to clarify his position.  At the very least, this isn't the message the GOP hopefuls wanted to be delivering today.  

Akin is an embarrassment to his party and his state.  To women he is much worse.  Once again, we are reminded that words matter.