Richard Mourdock

Feminist Radio Host Attacks 'That Disgrace to the Female Gender, Dana Loesch'
By Tim Graham | December 29, 2012 | 7:18 AM EST

Sitting in on Thursday's Randi Rhodes show, Nicole Sandler was reviewing 2012 and “all the rapey guys” like Senate candidates like Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock. “You could say they raped themselves...because they got all rapey on us.” In January, Sandler added, “Frothy Rick Santorum” said the same thing to Piers Morgan on CNN, that a baby, even “horribly created,” is a “gift of human life.”  Left out of all this comedy? That it was the liberal Morgans and the stack-decking moderators who kept asking the rape questions to embarrass politicians who want to defend the unborn.

Then she turned her attack to “The disgrace to the female gender, Dana Loesch." She played a clip of Loesch saying that women complaining about a trans-vaginal probe had already been well, probed in their consensual sexual activity. This sent Sandler over the edge, complaining that perhaps Dana Loesch, a married woman and mother, has never had sex: 

More Maher Ignorance: Richard Mourdock Lost To 'Elizabeth Warren Up In Massachusetts'
By Noel Sheppard | November 10, 2012 | 1:09 PM EST

As NewsBusters readers know, one of my favorite things to do on Saturday is expose the stunning ignorance of HBO's Bill Maher.

The Real Time host didn't let me down Friday actually saying during his prepared opening monologue that Indiana's Richard Mourdock lost his senate bid Tuesday to - wait for it! - "Elizabeth Warren up in Massachusetts" (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Cher and Kathy Griffin: 'Don't Let Mitt Turn Back Time On Women'
By Noel Sheppard | November 3, 2012 | 3:39 PM EDT

Cher and Kathy Griffin on Friday released a campaign video accusing Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney of wanting to turn back time on women’s rights.

I guess these two brainiacs haven’t gotten the message that the White House’s phony Republican war on women has failed and failed badly (video follows with transcribed highlights and commentary):

AP's Taylored Narrative: GOP Fails at Senate Majority Due to Nominating 'Flawed, Gaffe-Prone' Tea Party 'Flameouts'
By Tim Graham | October 30, 2012 | 10:30 PM EDT

AP reporter Andrew Taylor wrote up one of those teasing narratives Tuesday – the kind where he says, gee the GOP could have the Senate majority if it hadn’t managed to nominate Tea Party wackos that were successfully ripped down by harsh national press coverage.

Well, there was no actual reference to the press or its anti-Tea Party aggression. There are only “flawed, gaffe-prone nominees,” and no mention of who in the political world decides what a “gaffe” is and how the media's gaffe patrol never seems to locate them in the vicinity of Joe Biden. Taylor began his “bizarre GOP missteps” narrative this way:

Maddow on Mourdock Another Example of Her Rhetorical Vandalism
By Jack Coleman | October 29, 2012 | 3:18 PM EDT

Ever wonder why so few Republicans appear on "The Rachel Maddow Show"? Its namesake would have you believe they are deterred by her hypercaffeinated cerebral intensity. Instead, it's because they find Maddow's frequent lies, reliance on half truths, glaring omissions and paraphrasing of what they say beyond recognition inherently repellent.

On her MSNBC program Friday night, Maddow waded into the controversy that resulted after GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock's remarks about abortion during pregnancies resulting from rape. (video after page break)

NBC's Todd Hypes 'Speed Bumps' for Romney: Mourdock and 'Eyebrow-Raising' Sununu Comments
By Kyle Drennen | October 26, 2012 | 3:40 PM EDT

On Friday's NBC Today, political director Chuck Todd described how "both sides are dealing with some unexpected political speed bumps on the trail" and began by detailing the supposed obstacles for the Romney campaign:

...it's Indiana's Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock, who made controversial comments about abortion and rape on Tuesday...another unforced error for Team Romney and Republicans, national campaign co-chair John Sununu made these eyebrow-raising comments in response to Colin Powell's endorsement of President Obama.

New York Times Eager to Paint Mourdock Rape Comment as 'Dilemma' Making It 'Difficult' for Romney
By Clay Waters | October 25, 2012 | 9:41 PM EDT

New York Times reporters Jonathan Weisman and Michael Cooper both suggested Mitt Romney would be hurt by comments made by Indiana's Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock at a debate Tuesday night. While explaining why he doesn't support abortion in the case of rape, Mourdock said: "I've struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God. And even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."

Democrats and their media allies pounced, devoting more airtime to Mourdock's comments than to damning emails showing the White House was informed within hours that the Benghazi attacks were terrorism, not a spontaneous reaction to a YouTube video. The paper's get-Romney attack line was clear from the headline in Thursday's edition: "Rape Remark Jolts a Senate Race, and the Presidential One, Too."

CBS Hammers Haley Barbour on 'Impact' of Mourdock on Women's Vote
By Matthew Balan | October 25, 2012 | 4:14 PM EDT

Charlie Rose and Norah O'Donnell badgered former RNC head Haley Barbour on Thursday's CBS This Morning on Indiana Republican Richard Mourdock's strongly pro-life stance, that even children conceived in rape are "God intended." Rose strongly hinted that the media firestorm surrounding Mourdock could affect the presidential race: "Romney may be gaining support among women. And the question arises, could this Mourdock controversy impact that?" [audio available here; video below the jump]

The CBS morning newscast stood out among its Big Three peers in significantly adding to the more than seven and half minutes of coverage from the previous day. The network devoted three minutes, 6 seconds to Mourdock, which is nearly three times the one minutes and 7 seconds that ABC's Good Morning America and NBC's Today set aside to the story combined.

NBC: Romney 'Dealing With a New Controversy' After Mourdock Abortion Comments
By Kyle Drennen | October 25, 2012 | 3:25 PM EDT

Continuing to hype Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock's opposition to abortion as some kind of scandal for Mitt Romney, on Wednesday's NBC Nightly News, correspondent Peter Alexander proclaimed: "...the Romney campaign is also dealing with a new controversy, trying to distance itself from this comment..."

After playing a sound bite of Mourdock explaining in a Tuesday senatorial debate that he believed an unborn child conceived by rape was still a life "intended by God," Alexander touted an ad of Romney endorsing the Indiana Republican. He then observed how, "Mr. Romney, who's been carefully courting women voters, ignored the controversy" and declared that the Governor's campaign has "been trying to steer away from it's party's right-wing since the contentious primaries..."

Dem Senate Candidate Insulted CNN's Candy Crowley, But CNN Hasn't Reported It
By Matt Hadro | October 25, 2012 | 12:25 PM EDT

A Democratic Senate candidate insulted CNN's Candy Crowley by joking to a male debate moderator "You're prettier than her," but CNN still hasn't covered that after a week. The network quickly jumped all over GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock for his comments on rape and abortion, however.

After Democrats pounced on Mourdock for saying pregnancies, even in cases of rape, are "something that God intended to happen," CNN hammered the story all day Wednesday. Anchor Ashleigh Banfield spent over 20 minutes – one-third of her news hour – on Mourdock's comments and his press conference.

CNN's Costello Spends More Time on GOP Senate Candidate Than Libya E-Mails
By Matt Hadro | October 24, 2012 | 3:59 PM EDT

On Wednesday, CNN's Carol Costello spent more time on a GOP Senate candidate's remarks on abortion than she did on a new bombshell report on the Libya attacks. Costello devoted just over 12 minutes to Libya, versus 13 and a half minutes to Indiana Senate candidate Richard Mourdock's comments, and his endorsement by Mitt Romney. Costello anchors the 9 and 10 a.m. hours of CNN Newsroom.

Mourdock affirmed his faith-based views against abortion in cases of rape, stating "life is a gift from God, and I think even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen." Costello said those words "erupted online and re-energized the so-called war on women."

Libya E-mails Break; Morning Shows Minimize Pressure on Team Obama
By Matthew Balan | October 24, 2012 | 12:37 PM EDT

On Tuesday evening, CBS broke wide open a story on State Department e-mails showing the White House knew on September 11 that the consulate in Benghazi was subjected to a terrorist attack, and that terrorists took credit on Facebook and Twitter. But by Wednesday, the three network morning shows weren't leaping to follow up. ABC and CBS combined devoted just over a minute to the story, while NBC completely ignored it.

By contrast, all three newscasts showed that they were more interested in helping the Democrats in Indiana, aggressively spotlighting Indiana Republican Senate candidate Richard Mourdock's faith-based affirmation that he did not support abortion even in the case of rape, that even those are children "God intended." Mourdock's "controversial comments" drew more than seven and a half minutes of coverage.