Richard Mourdock: ‘I Know’ I Gained Voters With Rape Comments

Richard Mourdock is being backed by GOP leaders after his comments that sometimes God intends the pregnancies that come as a result of rape, and the candidate himself says he thinks the comments will help him gain voters.

Though the initial reaction against Richard Mourdock’s comments were negative, with Mitt Romney’s campaign clarifying that he didn’t agree with Mourdock, support has started to trickle in. The embattled Indiana Senate candidate now has the backing of many GOP leaders, The Huffington Post noted.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), whose own fate as Minority Leader is tied with whether Richard Mourdock wins his race, stood by the candidate.

“It’s incredibly irresponsible for anyone to take what Richard said about his views on life to demean his opposition to the detestable act of rape,” said McConnell in a statement printed in Kentucky’s Courier-Journal. McConnell could become Majority Leader if Republicans can take the Senate, though Mourdock’s comments could put that in jeopardy.

McConnell continued:

“We’re at the end of an election season here and I understand each side is looking to make hay out of every comment, but sharing the view of millions of Americans that life begins at conception is Richard’s deeply held personal belief that shouldn’t be misconstrued by partisans to imply something it does not.”

The controversy stems from a statement Richard Mourdock made Tuesday in a debate, in which he declared of pregnancies that result from rape: “I came to realize life is that gift from God. I think that even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”

Mourdock later made a statement that his words were being twisted, and that only the baby was a gift from God, not that God intended women to be raped.

A few days later, Richard Mourdock seemed more confident in his comments. He told reporters Thursday that he thought the controversy would pass quickly, and that he knows he gained voters because of it.