Soledad O'Brien Tells Mourdock to 'Get Real,' Brings Up Todd Akin
Is Soledad O'Brien working for the DSCC? She distorted a pro-life
statement from Senate candidate Richard Mourdock by including it with
the Todd Akin controversy in a critical "Get Real" segment on
Wednesday's Starting Point. She also tied Romney to Mourdock by noting he previously backed the candidate.
"Our 'Get Real' this morning, I think it's a really interesting
question about a lack of sensitivity toward a victim of rape," O'Brien
began. "Big implications politically, of course, Dana, for this," she
hyped later.
[Video below. Audio here.]
What Mourdock said was nothing close to Todd Akin's comments:
"I believe that life begins at conception. The only exception I have for – to have an abortion is in that case of the life of the mother. I just – I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is a gift from God. And I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."
However, O'Brien hyped the non-story after Democrats pounced
on it. "First it was the Missouri Senate candidate Republican Todd Akin
who talked about legitimate rape. You'll remember that. And now an
Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock says he believes
pregnancies resulting from rape are a gift from God," she began, playing
into the Democrats' hands by including Mourdock with the Todd Akin
controversy.
And O'Brien threw in Mitt Romney's name. "Governor Romney had, I think,
put out an ad supporting Richard Mourdock," she noted later.
As the Media Research Center has reported before, the media are overwhelmingly pro-choice, which might help explain the media outcry following Mourdock's remark.
A transcript of the segment, which aired on Starting Point on October 24 at 7:25 a.m. EDT, is as follows:
[7:25]
SOLEDAD
O'BRIEN: Our "Get Real" this morning, I think it's a really interesting
question about a lack of sensitivity toward a victim of rape. First it
was the Missouri Senate candidate Republican Todd Akin who talked about
legitimate rape. You'll remember that. And now an Indiana Republican
Senate candidate Richard Mourdock says he believes pregnancies resulting
from rape are a gift from God. Here's what he said last night, the last
minutes of a debate. Here's what he said.
(Video Clip)
MOURDOCK: I believe that life begins at conception. The only exception I
have for – to have an abortion is in that case of the life of the
mother. I just – I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came
to realize life is a gift from God. And I think even when life begins in
that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended
to happen.
(End Video Clip)
O'BRIEN: So Mourdock clarified his comments afterwards, saying "God
creates life, and that was my point. God does not want rape and by no
means was I suggesting that he does. A rape is a horrible thing and for
anyone to twist my words otherwise is absurd and sick." Big implications
politically, of course, Dana, for this.
BASH: Oh absolutely. First and foremost, just because any chance that
Democrats, in particular, have to whack Republicans on the issue -- on
an issue that could draw women or draw women away from Republicans,
they're going to do it. In this particular race, you made the connection
between this and Todd Akin's comments, I talked to a senior Republican
strategist who is kind of monitoring this to get a sense of the fallout,
and this source says that they don't think that this is that similar to
Akin for one main reason. And that is what he was doing was describing
his very well-publicized view on abortion, that it should not – that the
exception should not be there for rape, and that many Republicans agree
with that, especially in the very conservative state of Indiana.
Very different from what Todd Akin said, which is that somehow people's
bodies can reject pregnancy from rape, which, you know, virtually
nobody believes. So that's number one. Don't expect Republicans, I'm
told, to throw Mourdock under the bus like they did Akin. This is a
very, very different issue from their perspective.
O'BRIEN: Governor Romney had, I think, put out an ad supporting Richard
Mourdock. And he had a tough fight as a Tea Party candidate at first to
sort of get exception from the GOP, and now he, he's struggling a
little bit. What do you think, politically, Will?
WILL CAIN, CNN contributor: Politically I hope this isn't an issue. I
don't think this is an appropriate conversation to have through the
political lens. Will it have an impact politically? That's depends upon
how it's spun, right? And I don't really want to partake in the spin.
The question that Mourdock --
O'BRIEN: Did you just say as a political analyst you don't want to partake in the spin? Could someone write that down today?
CAIN: Write it down, put it on the chyron, and every time I'm up would
you rub it under my face, please? The question is this, Dana said it.
It's true. This is not similar to what Akin said. Akin redefined the
concept of rape and went into biological, medical procedures, and
mysteries. What Mourdock suggested here is that he's not saying God
wanted rape. God, he's saying, sanctions life. And if you believe life
begins at conception, either through religion or through logic, then how
that life is created is beside the point.
O'BRIEN: Okay, then let me ask a follow-up to that. Because I know you
love the logic argument. So then why make an exception for the life of
the mother? Right, if you are saying that morally an abortion is killing
something that is alive at the moment of conception, at the end of the
day isn't it like, well –
CAIN: Because now you're pitting two lives against each other. Now you're forced to choose the value between two lives.
O'BRIEN: And that's morally acceptable?
CAIN: It's a moral conundrum. Wherein the other equation is not.
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN contributor: And the problem from a faith-based
perspective, is the difference between what is God's will and what is
free will, okay? And so if you're sitting here trying to say oh, if you
got raped it was God's will for you to have that child, so, are you
saying that, oh, that it's okay it happened so go ahead and move
forward. Frankly, as a Christian, as an evangelical, I'm not buying that
argument. And I would ask him the question, if your daughter got raped,
are you telling me that you would be fine with her having that child?
-- Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center
