First, he totally discounts the fact that voters take into account a lot of information about candidates before they cast their votes. For example, a majority of Missouri voters may decide that Akin’s apology is sincere and that they accept it. Further, these voters may decide that they appreciate a sincere candidate who’s willing to come to them and admit mistakes, and that they would rather vote for such a candidate than vote for a sitting senator whose values they do not share and who has made numerous harmful policy mistakes for which she has not apologized.
Todd Akin made a six-second mistake for which he immediately apologized. Missouri voters are likely to vote for him over Claire McCaskill, who for six years has been making mistakes for which she has not apologized. In fact, she refuses to accept the settled science that a baby in the womb is a human being. But I digress.
Second, Anderson doesn’t factor in the much larger damage that the Republican Party would inflict on itself by abandoning a good and honorable man because of a mistake for which he immediately apologized. Voters can smell establishment cowardice, especially socially conservative voters. Such cowardice is toxic. It’s discouraging. And it has the potential to depress Republican turnout all across the country this November unless it is soon corrected.
Rick Tyler recently joined Republican candidate Todd Akin’s U.S. Senate campaign in Missouri as a senior adviser.
