Decrying the media firestorm which erupted from Representative Todd Akin’s recent comments on ‘legitimate’ rape and the resulting national debates on rape and abortion rights, Romney told supporters at a rally in Ohio that “it’s time we finally get back to the issues that matter most to the American people.”
“I mean, we’re all sick of hearing about rape, am I right?” he said. “It’s becoming more obvious every day that Democrats are just trying to use this meaningless, petty wedge issue to distract voters from the things that matter most to the most important people.”
The candidate went on to condemn the fact that the mainstream media, “has wasted days of election season focusing on women’s health issues,” to the detriment of such pressing matters as tax cuts for job creators in order to boost the economy.
“Think about it,” he said. “If rampant unemployment means women are unable to get jobs, how will they provide for all of the babies they’ll be constantly having once we finally outlaw birth control and abortion in all cases?” he asked.
Romney added that he believes the American people are aware that “in the grand scheme of things, these sorts of women’s issues are pretty insignificant.”
In an interview with CBS’s Scott Pelley, Paul Ryan supported his running mate’s contention that the GOP’s presidential campaign was being derailed by the liberal media’s focus on special-interest, fringe issues that are of little consequence to the average male voter.
“Listen, we could spend years discussing and debating the whole nuanced rape spectrum,” he told Pelley. “From forcible rape to date rape; from legitimate rape to semi-rape, from light rape to medium-heavy rape with a chance of pregnancy– the list of permutations is endless. But the important thing is for us not to get so bogged down with whether rape is a legitimate issue that we lose sight of the real, human issues at stake here– such as increased tax incentives for corporations.”
