Some Republicans Stand By Mourdock As Fallout From Rape Comments Continues

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Oct 31, 2012 10:20PM

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Indiana GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock hasn't seen the bottom of the fallout from his comments at a debate last week where he said pregnancy caused during a rape was "something God intended."

Those words have been echoing in the news for more than a week now, and the reaction amongst Republicans have been mixed. Democrats — including President Barack Obama himself on Leno saying it was "outrageous and demeaning to women" — pounced on the opportunity to make hay in a tight Senate race. Mitt Romney had endorsed Mourdock just a day before, so it was easy to take an Indiana race to the national platform.

To refresh your memory, this is what Mourdock said:

I’ve struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God. And even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.

The next day the Romney campaign tried to distance the candidate from Mourdock but didn't disavow him saying, "I disagree with his views on rape and incest, but I still support him.” Since then Romney has been pressed repeatedly on his views on abortion, which differ from his running mate's.

Indiana Republicans still aren't sure what to make of it. According to the Evansville Courier & Press, even a number of women at a Republican dinner "remained sitting during an ovation for Mourdock, and then stood eagerly" for Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Pence.

"Those are comments that he knows he wishes he had back, and yeah, they made it closer," Former Indiana Republican Party chairman Mike McDaniel said. "I think all the momentum was going in his direction, and that put a screech on that."

Mourdock might regret his remarks now, but he didn't expect this reaction when he made them. The Associated Press writes:

"You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube, you can't unring the bell," Mourdock said Monday. "I apologize that anyone might have been offended by it personally, and we've moved on and are talking about what people are talking about."
Mourdock also told reporters he was surprised by the reaction to his remarks after last week's Senate debate and didn't realize he had said anything controversial.

"When I walked off the stage, I expected -- walking to my green room -- high-fives, because I had no idea that the statement that I made would possibly go a direction that it went," he said.

Many Republicans are still standing by their man, though. Romney didn't rescind his endorsement, although we imagine he probably regrets the ad he put out for Mourdock about 24 hours before he made the comments. McDaniel predicts the presidential and gubernatorial candidates will buoy Mourdock in the election next week. Newt Gingrich says we should all just "get over it."