Obama on Mourdock: 'Rape is rape'

Obama on Mourdock: 'Rape is rape'

President Obama on Wednesday criticized Senate candidate Richard Mourdock's controversial comments on rape, saying that the Indiana Republican was wrong when he called rape "something God intended to happen."

"I don't know how (they) come up with these ideas," Obama said during a taping of "The Tonight Show" in Burbank, Calif. "Rape is rape. It is a crime."

"These various distinctions about rape don't make too much sense to me, don't make any sense to me," he said, and adding that Mourdock's comments show why men should not be left to make decisions on womens' issues.

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http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/10/obama-on-mourdock-rape-is-rape-147149.html

Obama criticizes GOP candidate's rape remarks

BURBANK, Calif. (AP) -- President Barack Obama is criticizing a Republican Senate candidate for his comments about women and rape, saying that "rape is rape" and that distinctions offered by the Republican candidate, in Obama's words, "don't make any sense to me."

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Asked about Mourdock's comment Wednesday on "The Tonight Show," Obama told host Jay Leno, quote: "Rape is rape. It is a crime."

Obama says such remarks reflect why politicians, mostly male, shouldn't be making decisions about women's health care. He also says that women are capable of making their own decisions and that intrusions by politicians is part of what's at stake in the presidential election.

Full post here: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OBAMA_RAPE_REMARKS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-10-24-22-45-36

(CNN)

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"I don't know how these guys come up with these ideas," Obama told Leno. "Let me make a very simple proposition. Rape is rape. It is a crime. And so these various distinctions about rape don't make too much sense to me, don't make any sense to me."

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"This is exactly why you don't want a bunch of politicians, mostly male, making decisions about women's health care decisions," Obama said. "Women are capable of making these decisions in consultation with their partners, with their doctors, and for politicians to want to intrude in this stuff often times without any information is a huge problem."

The president went on the frame the issue politically, saying the next president would have the opportunity to appoint justices to the Supreme Court, which could potentially hear a challenge to Roe v. Wade. Mitt Romney, Obama's Republican challenger, has said that he would appoint justices to the court that would support overturning the 1973 decision affirming a woman's right to have an abortion.

"Roe vs. Wade is probably hanging in the balance," Obama said.

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http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/10/24/obama-on-mourdock-male-politicians-shouldnt-make-abortion-decisions/