Posted on 10/20/2011 1:22:45 PM PDT by Happy Valley Dude
Rick Santorum is hitting fellow Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain for what he calls "pro-choice" comments made during an interview Wednesday evening on CNN when the former Godfather's Pizza CEO said "it's not the government's role or anybody else's role to make that decision."
But the extent to which Cain referring to abortion — rather than a parent's obligation to raise a child conceived as a result of rape — is unclear.
Cain took to Twitter later Thursday, flatly denying the charachterization of his comments as pro-choice.
" I'm 100% pro-life. End of story," Cain wrote.
During the interview, Cain was asked by host Piers Morgan for his view on abortion, and responded that he was against the procedure under any circumstance.
"I believe that life begins at conception. And abortion under no circumstances," Cain said. Morgan asked Cain if that meant he felt the procedure was impermissible in cases of rape and incest, which many anti-abortion activists and conservatives carve out exceptions for. Cain reiterated that there were "no circumstances" under which he supported abortion.
But then Cain was asked how he would feel if a member of his family was faced with pregnancy following rape.
"If one of your female children, grandchildren was raped, you would honestly want her to bring up that baby as her own?" Morgan asked.
Cain said that Morgan was "mixing" questions, but then replied:
"No, it comes down to it's not the government's role or anybody else's role to make that decision. Secondly, if you look at the statistical incidents, you're not talking about that big a number. So what I'm saying is it ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make. Not me as president, not some politician, not a bureaucrat. It gets down to that family. And whatever they decide, they decide. I shouldn't have to tell them what decision to make for such a sensitive issue."
Cain continued, saying the government should not tell people what to do with "social decisions," raising eyebrows among social conservatives.
"I can have an opinion on an issue without it being a directive on the nation. The government shouldn't be trying to tell people everything to do, especially when it comes to social decisions that they need to make," Cain said.
It is unclear whether Cain was referring to the decision to have an abortion, or the decision to raise a child resulting from rape rather than putting it up for adoption. The Cain campaign has not yet responded to a request for clarification.
The campaign for Rick Santorum clearly believes it is the former, issuing a statement Thursday saying that the former Pennsylvania senator would speak against Cain's remarks at a campaign stop later today. The comments will also likely be a hot-button issue at Iowa's Faith & Freedom dinner on Saturday, an event that will draw at least 1,000 social conservative activists at which all of the 2012 GOP candidates, besides Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, will be speaking.
This story was originally posted at 11:58 a.m. and updated at 1:05 p.m. to include Cain's tweet.
Gotcha questions only to Cain. Hmmm...
Santorum is a cootie, not a candidate.
Another stupid controversy to deflect the attention from the economy and the non-leadership of Obama. I’m getting sick of their drama...
Little Rickie needs to run on his own record.
I'm starting not to like the Hill, they sure didn't go around and measure conservatives' eyebrows, but they can make it up just for a cute line in their rag.
Rick Santorum is like the snot-nosed tattletale in grade school who was always coming within a hair's breadth of getting punched in the nose.
Considering it was a one on one interview how could it have been directed at anyone else?
That hurts to read. I'd like all of the GOP candidates to answer the same questions.
I was wondering if he or Bachmann would mention it first.
I don’t see anything inconsistent here. Cain believes the baby has a right to life and eventually able to make free choices. This is maybe a paradox, but not inconsistent. Santorium, come on man!
It wasn’t a gotcha question and even if it was—Cain has had time to navigate it—he did the same thing a while back on Stossel.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JD-sBPBzpmE&feature=player_embedded
Oh good grief. Cain is 100% pro life. Period End of story (his words).
Now I think Rick Sanitarium IS making his last stand here - Cain should claify his remarks on this issue, though - more confusing IMO than “pro-choice”.
So now we get to hear Santorup whine about this for 15 minutes in the next debate. Great distraction on a non-issue.
Grasping at straws, Rick.
I really don't see it as a "Gotcha" question.
The questions were;
Morgan asked Cain if that meant he felt the procedure was impermissible in cases of rape and incest, which many anti-abortion activists and conservatives carve out exceptions for.
Cain reiterated that there were "no circumstances" under which he supported abortion.
But then Cain was asked how he would feel if a member of his family was faced with pregnancy following rape.
"If one of your female children, grandchildren was raped, you would honestly want her to bring up that baby as her own?"
Cain replied:
"No, it comes down to it's not the government's role or anybody else's role to make that decision. Secondly, if you look at the statistical incidents, you're not talking about that big a number. So what I'm saying is it ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make.
Again: The question:
If one of your female children, grandchildren was raped, you would honestly want her to bring up that baby as her own?"
And the Answer:
"No, it comes down to it's not the government's role or anybody else's role to make that decision.
Dear Rick Santorum,
Please focus your efforts on the REAL pro choice candidate in this ontest or go away. His name, by the way, is Mitt Romney. Don’t worry, he is not related to Arlen Specter so you don’t have to support and/or campaign for him.
Love,
Conservatives
Yep. Cain has been 100% consistent in his 100% pro-life orientation. I’m really disappointed to see Santorum go down this road. He’s being deliberately obtuse and deceptive here...and, what’s worse, he knows it. I’ve maintained some degree of respect for Santorum that I am rapidly losing.
Santorum accelerating his race against Huntsman to the bottom
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