According to a survey of Associated Press newspaper editors and broadcast news directors in Missouri, the top news story in the state was Republican Representative Todd Akin’s controversial and unscientific remarks about “legitimate rape.”
Akin made the comments on KTVI-TV’s “Jaco Report,” in which he said, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing [pregnancy] down.” Journalist Charles Jaco later said he was in error for not following up on the comment.
Akin later said the comment was a gaffe, though St. Louis Public Radio and Beyond November political reporter Chris McDaniel noted “a lot of people have been characterizing it as a gaffe. It’s not. It’s something that a lot of fundamental conservatives believe.”
McDaniel joined host Don Marsh for our annual review of the year in politics. Marsh was also joined by Jo Mannies of the St. Louis Beacon, University of Missouri-St. Louis political science professor Dave Robertson, and Amanda Vinicky of WUIS/Illinois Public Radio.
“It’s almost impossible to overestimate the international impact of this story. It was on news all over the world and made Missouri’s senate race a focus of international attention, almost equal to the Presidential race. Akin’s name was all over the world,” said Robertson.
Our guests also addressed the major political issues in Illinois, the upcoming race for Missouri’s 8th Congressional, and the mayoral election in St. Louis.
