The Libertarian candidate for senate, Andrew Horning has stepped into the discussion about his Republican opponent, Richard Mourdock, saying when a woman is impregnated during a rape, "it's something God intended."
Horner wrote this on his campaign's Facebook page:
"I should probably just shut up about Mourdock's Moment and let votes
come my way without standing in the way. I have nothing to gain and at least a
little to lose by speaking my mind.
But I'd be a lousy man and I wouldn't sleep tonight if I were to withhold my
thoughts on this. So, I must defend Mr. Mourdock, at least in this one little
way.
You probably don't know how hard it is to stand up before cameras in this tense
situation and try to say what you mean, and not say anything stupid. To do this
with a clock ticking, and only a minute to be specific, clear and intelligible,
is apparently impossible.
All of us slipped now and then.
God Knows that I certainly said things I wish I could retract, and didn't say
much of what I'd meant to. In a minute, I could only formulate a thought and
start to articulate it before the timekeeper's red STOP sign came up.
I want people to vote for me, of course. But I sure don't want anybody to vote
for me based upon Mourdock's supposed gaffe for at least a couple of reasons:
1. That sort of hair-trigger reactive politics is a fair-sized chunk of flaw
in human behavior that makes politics so inevitable, ugly and dangerous.
2. I understand what he meant, and... well...
I personally know women who'd been raped, and had abortions. While I don't
personally know any women who'd been raped and bore the child, I've certainly
heard plenty of stories of such women. And the only regrets I've heard are from
the former group. I know many women who didn't have abortions were blessed
beyond their hopes by their beautiful child – a child who was, after all,
innocent of the brutality of her or his conception.
Everybody who knows me knows that my core philosophy of anti-aggression flows
into a pro-life stance as well. While I insist upon constitutionality in my
politics, and understand that most of the abortion debate should properly be
argued at the state level, my personal feelings are far more like... Mr.
Mourdock's.
While I would not unconstitutionally craft federal policy in this matter, I do
agree with Mr. Mourdock that, if you have any notion of a deity at all, then
God's Mercy could be seen in the birth of a child. No matter what else may have
happened up to that point.
I'm sorry if that offends people who might have come my way by way of
Mourdock's words. But I don't want anybody to vote for me under false premises
or hasty judgments.
I've got to stand on my principles; which means I've got to defend my
principles all the time. No matter how those chips may fall."
