Why Was the Original 'Women for Todd Akin' Video Scrubbed From Candidate's Website?

Is Congressman Todd Akin's new campaign video "creepy"?  That's what some commenters are saying after watching the Senate candidate's most recent pitch at women voters, titled "Women for Todd Akin."

Perhaps it's that it begins with a woman who could pass for an Iranian dissident or a member of the Witness Protection Program.  Able only to see her silhouette, viewers hear the woman proclaim: "Missouri's women for Todd Akin is a coalition of women whose goal is to reach others with the truth that Todd is a humble, intelligent, and compassionate leader.  He's not just a good choice for Missouri, he is the best choice for Missouri Senate."

After that, a number of women appear on the screen to explain why they are voting for Todd Akin, who is arguably most well-known for his "legitimate rape" comments.

The blog Jezebel has a number of excerpts from the clip, accompanied by their own comments:

"For my first twelve years, I grew up in Russia, where it was communist. There was no freedom at all. The government told you what you could and what you could not do. So coming to America for the past seven years, I have been able to make my own choices, it's because of the Constitution being able to choose between right and wrong."

Yeah, I love choices, too. Too bad Todd Akin doesn't. Next.

[...]

"I am very involved in pro life, and I know that he is 100% pro life, AS I AM."

100% pro life is just sanitized talk for "no abortion, no exceptions." Which is kind of the thing that got Todd Akin in the public opinion doghouse in the first place, right?

Here is the video:

The video was apparently featured on the "Missouri Women Standing With Todd Akin" section of his website, which features the tagline, "We Think for Ourselves."

A number of rapid changes have apparently been made to the site since Tuesday morning, due to a number of factual errors regarding the women that are depicted as supporting Todd Akin.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes:

The site displayed a large photo showing Akin standing with his wife and two other women. The headline over it read: “I'm a women[SIC], and I support Todd.”

The problem is, one of the women in the photo doesn't—and the campaign apparently knew it.

Corinne Matti, who is pictured on Akin's site standing to Akin's left, is a “tracker” for the Missouri Democratic Party. Her job, which she does openly, is to attend Akin's public events and report back to the Democrats. She has been doing it for more than a year.

“I suspect they were so desperate to find women that they had to borrow one of ours,” quipped McCaskill spokeswoman Caitlin Legacki. [Emphasis added]

The previous video has also been removed, though whether it is because of the immediate criticism or a factual error is unclear.

Here is the new video: