Todd Akin’s militia ties exposed - Democratic Underground

24.10.12

Todd Akin’s militia ties exposed - Democratic Underground: When the news became a campaign issue in August, Akin claimed ignorance. “I didn’t know who they were, I didn’t want to have anything to do with them,” he told conservative radio host Laura Ingraham. He said the same thing 12 years ago when an opponent raised the issue in an earlier campaign: “Akin said he was invited to speak to the group but was uncomfortable and turned down the invitation,” the Post-Dispatch reported at the time.

But new information casts doubt on that claim. The full Post-Dispatch story, which was not included in the BuzzFeed story, also reported that “a flier promoting the 1995 event billed Akin as speaker.” Salon obtained the flier (view it here); it advertises a regional conference to teach participants “how to organize Missouri militias.” Akin is listed among the “special guest speakers.” How did Akin end up on the flier for the event and why did he write a gushing letter to a group he wanted nothing to do with? Further undermining his account: The only contemporaneous news report, a 1995 article not available online from The Springfield News-Leader, reported that Akin canceled because of “scheduling conflicts,” not discomfort with the militia’s leaders.