That’s no Republican talking point, that’s the Washington Post – on August 8th – before Akin opened his cakehole and his idiotic statements on rape fell out:

Senate Democrats got exactly what they wanted in Missouri on Tuesday night. Now comes the hard part.

Republican Rep. Todd Akin’s primary victory clearly boosted vulnerable Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill’s survival odds this fall. But to win, McCaskill will have to make the general election campaign as much about her opponent as herself.

That’s easier said than done. But Akin — and some of the things he’s said in the past — does make it a bit easier.

There’s a reason why Democrats spent over $1.5 million trying to help Akin win his three-way primary. He was the most conservative candidate in the field — and the most unpredictable one. He shook up his campaign staff late last year. He recently released a head-scratching and jumbled campaign ad. And Democrats have already launched a microsite highlighting his controversial statements that won’t play well with moderates. (“America has got the equivalent of the stage III cancer of socialism because the federal government is tampering in all kinds of stuff it has no business tampering in,” Akin once said.)

Akin is far from an ideal Republican nominee. But the GOP doesn’t need a superstar to defeat McCaskill. She is running in a state where Mitt Romney is expected to defeat President Obama. She will have to confront opposition ads that will attack her for billing taxpayers for trips she took on a plane she co-owned with her husband. She has long been one of the most high profile backers of the President.

Is Akin really the candidate we wanted – the candidate that the conservative Republicans of Missouri wanted? You would really have to question a candidate who benefits from the efforts of the opposition party. The Democrats were so afraid of the Tea Party message that they “helped” Akin with attacks on his primary opponent, Sarah Steelman…and especially when Akin was known as a bit of a Joe Bidenish character, it seems a little foolish to think that the Dems weren’t successful in their strategy.

While I don’t agree with the Post that this statement by Akin…

“America has got the equivalent of the stage III cancer of socialism because the federal government is tampering in all kinds of stuff it has no business tampering in.”

…is really controversial – maybe in the halls of the Post, but this is hardly a radical proposition these days…his undisciplined statement on rape is enough for me. Where there’s smoke, there is usually fire.

So, the establishment Republican machine got what they wanted…so did the Democrats. Now, look what we have – we have gone from a pretty much sure GOP pick up to a likely Democrat hold.

Why not dump Akin and run Tea Party candidate Sarah Steelman instead? What have we got to lose now? Why would we continue to give the Democrats what they wanted? Why continue to help their strategy succeed?

Toss his bumbling ass.

Draft Sarah. Support Steelman in an independent bid. If the Republicans are serious about pulling funding for him, pour it into a Steelman campaign. I would rather lose for the right reasons than win for the wrong ones.

Plus, she has the added advantage of being Rule 5 worthy:

Sarah Steelman – Click to enlarge – click twice to really enlarge.

Of course, Akin deserves a second chance – everybody does, he has apologized and asked for forgiveness – but there are two rules that are absolutely true: 1) in business, it is never a good idea to conduct a research and development effort inside a live project and 2) in politics, never work on “forgiveness” in the middle of a campaign. Akin needs to step aside and work on his redemption and maybe come back at a later date. This is neither the place nor the time for it.