Mandel refuses to denounce Mourdock’s offensive rape comments

Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock’s comments about rape have Republicans again having to defend or reject one of their own over an offensive and ignorant statement that most of them likely agree with.  Mourdock answered a debate question saying “even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that is something that God intended to happen.”

Today Marc Kovac posted video of Dave Catanese asking Josh Mandel how he felt about those comments. Mandel refused to denounce them saying he would like to see the video first. When pressed by Catanese, Mandel claims he’s proud to be pro-life and agrees there should be no exceptions – but also says “it’s important to protect the life of the mother.”

Mandel can’t even keep his position straight over the course of a 47 second interview.

There are some things you need to see in context before you can comment on them. Mourdock’s “God makes rape babies” comment is not one of those things.

In case you wondered, Mandel answered a Cincinnati Right to Life candidate survey earlier this year saying that he would “ban abortion-on-demand from fertilization to birth” with no exceptions. This includes, of course, rape, incest and the life of the mother.

Hopefully Chuck Todd adds this question to his list for the Brown/Mandel debate tomorrow.