As I was driving home from work they were talking on NPR about the Todd Akin comments vis-a-vis "legitimate rape", wherein (as i'm sure you all know) he alleged that it isn't necessary to build protections for rape victims into anti-abortion legislation, because rape victims can't get pregnant.
Anyway, we all know the comment, and I don't have anything more to add to it. What bothered me so much is in this 2 or 3 minute segment they referred to his "controversial remarks" several times, and called it a "gaffe". It is neither. In order for there to be a controversy, there needs to be evidence, even very specious evidence, that the dissenting opinion has any kind of credence. Akin's remarks aren't controversial; they're wrong. They should be stated as such by the media. To call them controversial implies that there is a controversy over the issue. There isn't.
Second, don't call this a gaffe. A gaffe is a mistake or a faux pas of some sort. He didn't show up to a party with brown shoes and a black belt. He stated an incorrect belief that is rooted in lack of understanding of biology and--probably moreso--misogyny. Claiming that he made a gaffe leads the listener to believe that he said something that was a misstatement, or perhaps improperly worded. These types of euphemisms have been legitimizing (no pun intended) false debates for a long time, and I'm really fucking sick of it.
This is something insidious.
Somewhere along the line we Americans seemed to have raised opinion up over fact, as if it were a matter of civility.
The media is attacked when they don't do so, and IMO as a result, are convinced that simply pointing out that something is dead wrong is to editorialize.
You should really write NPR. They may read it in their feedback segment.