Ryan grilled on abortion and 'forcible rape'
AP Photo/Matt Rourke
(CBS News) ROANOKE, Va. - In his first solo public statement on the issue, Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan called controversial comments made by Missouri Senate hopeful Todd Akin "outrageous" in an interview with KDKA Pittsburgh. The staunchly anti-abortion House member declined to explain the phrase "forcible rape," which appeared in a bill he co-sponsored with Akin.
Ryan, in the interview taped on Tuesday in the Pittsburgh suburbs, said of Akin's suggestion that women can biologically repel pregnancies in cases involving "legitimate" rape,"His statements were outrageous, over the pale. I don't know anybody who would agree with that. Rape is rape. Period. End of story."
Ryan acknowledged that as vice president, his views on abortion would not have the weight of Romney's. For more than a decade, Ryan has opposed all abortions except to save the life of the woman; Romney supports exceptions for rape and incest.
"Well, look, I'm proud of my pro-life record. And I stand by my pro-life record in Congress. It's something I'm proud of," Ryan said. "But Mitt Romney is the top of the ticket, and Mitt Romney will be president, and he will set the policy of the Romney administration."
Ryan was asked in the interview about his co-sponsorhip, with Akin, of a bill barring federal funding for abortions with an exception carved out for "forcible rape." He sidestepped a direct question about what he meant by "forcible rape," a much-criticized term by abortion rights advocates.
"Rape is rape. There is no splitting hairs over rape," Ryan replied.
Obama spokeswoman Lis Smith issued a statement blasting Ryan for his earlier involvement with the bill, saying "As a Republican leader in the House, Paul Ryan worked with Todd Akin to try to narrow the definition of rape and outlaw abortion even for rape victims. He may hope that American women never learn about this record, but they deserve an answer to why he wanted to redefine rape and remove protections for rape victims."
Asked later by reporters on his plane if he regretted sponsoring abortion legislation with Akin, Ryan replied, "That bill passed I think by 251 votes. It was bipartisan. I think HR-3 is the one you are talking about. I think we had 251 votes, 16 Democrats. I am proud of my pro-life record I have." The House roll call shows Ryan was remembering correctly.
Ryan said he had spoken to Akin on Tuesday night and it went as "you would imagine." He declined to give further details. "I will keep it between us, but I agree with (Sen.) Roy (Blunt) and (former Sen.) Jack Danforth and the rest of the people from the Missouri delegation, current and former, that he should have dropped out of the race. But he is not, he is going to run his campaign and we are going to run ours." He said he had no plans to talk to Akin again to try to convince him to withdraw.
Rep. Todd Akin
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make a lot of cheap stuff to sell to...nobody. Geesh.
One idiot spews diarriah of the mouth and the haters come out of the wood work.
Bigots all of you.
There have always been abortions in the past, many without hospital or Doctor assistance, so WHY, when Joseph Smith was plagiarizing other bibles to write the book of Mormon dud he not include making abortion a sin?
its what happens when like the repub bible belt people they think they speak for God and can do no wrong
You are a moron!
In the last 32 years there have been 3 Republican administrations, Reagan, Bush1 and Bush2, with a total of 20 years in office, and 2 Democratic administrations, Clinton and Obama, with a total 12 years in office.
Now lets examine the annual national-debt-outstanding record over those 32 years:
Reagan's first fiscal year budget went into effect on October 1, 1981 and his last fiscal year budget ended on September 30, 1989
Reagan TRIPLED the debt in 8 years from $997 Billion to, $2.857 Trillion
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Bush1's first fiscal year budget went into effect on October 1, 1989 and his last fiscal year budget ended on September 30, 1993
Bush 1 inherited the Reagan tax cuts and spending policies but managed to slow the Rapidly increasing debt somewhat, by actually raising taxes. The debt only increased by $1.554 Trillion in 4 years; from $2.857 Trillion to $4,411 Trillion
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Clinton's first fiscal year budget went into effect on October 1, 1993 and his last fiscal year budget ended on September 30, 2001
Clinton increased the debt by $1.396 trillion in 8 years from $4,411 Trillion to $ 5,807 trillion.
Clinton further increased taxes as well as controlled spending, and slowed the debt increase to only $17 billion in 2000. HOWEVER; the debt would, almost certainly have increased more under Clinton, if bush1 had not already started putting the brakes on the spiraling debt. Stopping a rapid debt increase takes a lot of time AND budget changes including increasing revenue with tax increases and responsibly reducing spending.
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Bush2's first fiscal year budget went into effect on October 1, 2001 and his last fiscal year budget ended on September 30, 2009
Bush 2 increased the debt by $6.1 Trillion in 8 years from $5.807 trillion to $11,9 trillion.
Bush immediately cut taxes again and Drastically increased spending with unfunded programs and two unnecessary wars thereby creating the present economic and employment situation (widely referred to as the Bush/Cheney fiasco).
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Obama's first fiscal year budget went into effect on October 1, 2009 and his last fiscal year budget will not be proposed before October 1, 2012
Obama increased the debt by $4 Trillion (so far, 3 fiscal year budgets) in his first term from $11.9 Trillion to $15.9 Trillion as of July 22 2012. If budget deficits continue at the same pace; the debt will have increased by $5.3 Trillion by the end of Omaha's next fiscal year, on September 30, 2013
Obama inherited The Bush/Cheney fiasco, and by failing to raise taxes OR to allow the bush tax cuts to expire, the debt continues to spiral.
Judging from these DOCUMENTED records it is abundantly clear that the debt increase can be slowed or stopped ONLY by increasing taxes, along with controlled spending.
While President Obama has not raised income taxes he doesn't have any known tax-elimination plans, nor any voucher plans that would destroy Social Security and/or Medicare.
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In addition to destroying Social Security and Medicare with voucher plans Governor Romney clearly plans to drastically cut income taxes and eliminate investment income tax altogether, (meaning he will virtually pay NO taxes in the future).
Based on PROVEN history that can only mean one thing. Another doubling of the national debt to at least $32 trillion=TOTAL BANKRUPTCY in the very near future.