U.S. Rep. Todd Akin speaking with reporters in Joplin. (Photo/KZRG)
JOPLIN, Mo. — Three hundred miles away from his home district in St. Louis, Congressman Todd Akin, R., spoke to the Joplin Tea Party Saturday morning. Later in the day, Akin was scheduled to speak at an event in Camdenton, all of this is a sign he is courting support for a possible statewide run.
Though he steered clear of making an announcement, Akin told reporters a campaign against Senator Claire McCaskill is something he is definitely interested in.
“It is one of those decisions we’re going to have to make in the near future. There are a few things that I need to get squared away, but as we’re taking a look, there’s been a lot of encouragement for us to jump in to the race,” Akin said. “Our belief is it is critical in the choice of two Americas: If we want the free country and free enterprise the way we’ve always enjoyed, we have got to move the Senate in a much more conservative direction. McCaskill really is just a rubber-stamp for the president, and he is way, way, way left of left.”
Of the political divisions facing the country, Akin said, “This thing is really two visions of what America should be. Do we really want to become a sniveling entitlement state, or do we want freedom? That’s the choice that’s before the voters.”
For a week, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, before Akin even announced, has gone after him for his support of the Ryan Plan making its way through the House, which, among other things, would make significant changes to the way Medicare is distributed. In a news release Thursday, the DSCC announced an online petition calling on Akin to “stand with seniors to protect Medicare and against special interest tax breaks for oil companies and the wealthiest Americans.”
“Todd Akin’s decision to join the Republican war on Medicare shows how wrong his priorities are for Missouri’s seniors and the middle class,” said Matt Canter, spokesman for the DSCC. “Republicans like Todd Akin are not only extremists, but they’re also hypocrites because their plan actually adds to the federal debt.”
Akin said Democrats are politically posturing instead of making tough choices about federal spending.
“[I]t’s a tactical decision on their part, to ignore the economic problems that we have and then as soon as Republicans try to solve the problem, then they beat us up saying, ‘Oh, you’re going to take old people’s social security,’ ‘Oh, you’re going to take their medicare away,’” Akin said. “What we specifically said in the Ryan budget was that anybody that is 55 or older, we’re not changing it. We’re trying to leave that the way it is, but then as you go down, we have to deal with the runaway entitlements.
“We’re trying to bottom-line them to make them more free enterprise so that it will control the cost growth on them,” he said.
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