Jon Huntsman: Mitt Romney Should Withdraw Richard Mourdock Endorsement, Pull Ad

Source: Huffington Post

Jon Huntsman, former Utah governor and 2012 Republican presidential candidate, said on Thursday that Mitt Romney showed a lack of leadership with his response to Indiana GOP Senate nominee Richard Mourdock's controversial comments on rape and abortion. Romney has refused to withdraw his endorsement of Mourdock and declined to have the campaign ad he filmed for him pulled from TV.

" I simply would have said I'm withdrawing my support," Huntsman said in an interview with HuffPost Live. "Until proves otherwise, either you lay out an apology, do something else, but as of right now I would withdraw support."

Asked by The Huffington Post's Howard Fineman if he would have had the ad taken off air, Huntsman responded, "I would do exactly that." "I'm here to tell you that there are some independents and swing voters in the middle that I think would respect a candidate who goes against the grain," Huntsman continued. "They're looking for leadership during a time that these kinds of statements are made, as opposed to just the go-with-the-flow kinds of statements we always hear."

Huntsman condemned Mourdock's comments, saying they "don't deserve to be part of our political discourse right now." "I cringe -- it's like fingers on a chalkboard every time I hear men talk about women's health issues," he said.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/25/jon-huntsman-mitt-romney-richard-mourdock_n_2017322.html