CNN's Piers Morgan cast Paul Ryan's pro-life record on the
"extreme" end of the GOP and brought up Todd Akin to emphasize the
party's gender gap, but his Republican guest would have none of it
early Thursday morning at the Republican Convention.
"What about Paul Ryan's positions on social issues like abortion? He's
pretty right-wing, to the more extreme end of the party. Are you
concerned that that will be perceived as anti-women?" Morgan inquired.
"Well I think what the issue's that extreme is when Barack Obama has voted four times to say if you have a failed abortion and the baby is born alive, you aren't allowed to save it. That is what is extreme," retorted Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wisc.).
Morgan followed up, though. "But if you're trying to target women, which Mitt Romney has to do because he's way behind on women, is it really advisable to have people like Todd Akin rearing their ugly heads, coming out with all this guff about rape?" he asked Duffy, who came out swinging.
[Video below.]
"You want to know what I think is ugly? I was a prosecutor. I
prosecuted rape cases for adults and children. And the Democrat Party
is going to try to use rape as a political football, that's a disgrace.
I'm disgusted by it.," ranted the GOP congressman.
Morgan continued his liberal course by later calling the GOP platform
"pretty, pretty right-wing" and adding it was "extraordinary" that the
party wouldn't budge on the pro-life issue.
A transcript of the segment, which aired on Piers Morgan Tonight on August 30 at 12:34 a.m. EDT, is as follows:
PIERS MORGAN: What about Paul Ryan's positions
on social issues like abortion? He's pretty right-wing, to the more
extreme end of the party. Are you concerned that that will be perceived
as anti-women?
Rep. SEAN DUFFY (R-Wisc.): Well I think what the issue's that extreme
is when Barack Obama has voted four times to say if you have a failed
abortion and the baby is born alive, you aren't allowed to save it.
That is what is extreme. And I think we have to have a real
conversation not just on social issues, but the real issues that
Americans care about, which is the debt, which is the economy, which is
jobs. Moms and dads across America, moms specifically.
MORGAN: But if you're trying to target women, which Mitt Romney has to
do because he's way behind on women, is it really advisable to have
people like Todd Akin rearing their ugly heads, coming out with all
this guff about rape?
DUFFY: You want to know what I think is ugly? I was a prosecutor. I
prosecuted rape cases for adults and children. And the Democrat Party
is going to try to use rape as a political football, that's a disgrace.
I'm disgusted by it.
MORGAN: Well actually, I thought Todd Akin's comment was a disgrace wasn't it?
DUFFY: And I called it a disgrace. But it shouldn't be used
politically. You had virtually all Republicans stand up and say that
was wrong, we don't approve of it, and now that it's being used
politically – that's disgusting!
-- Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center