A tea party blogger who initially urged Rep. Todd Akin to step down after his “legitimate rape” gaffe is now calling on conservatives to support him, saying larger interests are at stake.
Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips wrote that “it’s time to take one for the team,” and support Mr. Akin — simply to stop his opponent, Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, from winning a second term and helping Democrats keep their Senate majority.
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“We conservatives, as much as we may not like it, we must support Akin,” Mr. Phillips wrote. “He may mean the difference between Republican control of the Senate and failure.”
He framed it as a lesser-of-two-evils type of decision.
“As much as I do not like Todd Akin, he will do some things right,” Mr. Phillips wrote. “His first vote as a senator will be to put a Republican in as the majority leader instead of Harry Reid. He will vote like a real American and not like Claire McCaskill.”
When Republicans flocked to call on Mr. Akin to resign last month, Mr. Phillips joined in, calling his claim that rape victims rarely get pregnant “unrecoverable.”
But as the deadline passed Tuesday for Mr. Akin to drop out, Mr. Phillips said it’s time to support the only candidate Republicans have.
“We have to deal with the situation we have,” he wrote.
