Mourdock Apologizes: 'God Abhors Rape'

Not surprisingly, Richard Mourdock and the Republican Party are experiencing quite a bit of fallout from the Indiana Senate candidate's comments last night at a debate, in which he said "God intended" pregnancies from rape to happen. The latest:

• The Democratic National Committee was quick to jump all over Mitt Romney, who just released a TV ad endorsing Mourdock this week. In a new DNC video, that ad is spliced together with Mourdock's comments, Politico reports. The DNC claims Mourdock is the only Senate candidate Romney has endorsed.
• A spokesperson for President Obama's campaign said today that the president "felt those comments were outrageous and demeaning to women." She also called it "perplexing" that Romney had not demanded his ad for Mourdock be taken off TV, the New York Times reports.

• But senior Romney adviser Bay Buchanan did go on MSNBC today to distance the GOP nominee from Mourdock's comments, Politico reports. "The governor’s position on this is long-standing. He’s against abortion except in cases of rape or incest, and of course, the life of the mother," she said. "He disagrees entirely with what the Senate candidate said."
• Sen. John Cornyn, head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, is in Mourdock's corner, saying in a statement today that even Mourdock's Democratic opponent believes "life is a gift from God," and that that was all Mourdock was trying to say, Politico adds.
• The NRSC may be standing behind Mourdock, but the Republican Party is split—Rep. Mike Pence, and Sens. Scott Brown and Kelly Ayotte have denounced Mourdock's statement.

Mourdock walked back his comments almost immediately, but has since issued a longer apology, Fox News reports. "If because of the lack of clarity in my words [people] came away with an impression other than those that I stated a moment ago—that life is precious and that I abhor violence and I am confident God abhors violence and rape—if they came away with any impression other than that, I truly regret it and I apologize," he said. (More Richard Mourdock stories.)