by Brad Johnson
Richard Mourdock, the Mitt Romney-endorsed Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in Indiana, is standing by his comments that pregnancy after rape is “something that God intended to happen” and a “gift from God.”
While these comments are supposedly “pro-life,” his support for global climate destruction undercuts any notion that he supports policies to protect our children and future generations from serious harm.
Mourdock, who made his career as a coal and oil geologist and disastrous coal mining executive, has made repeated statements on manmade climate change that evince a total disregard for science and the risks posed by carbon pollution to all unborn children:
“I’m scared to death about each of the three candidates and their positions on global climate change,” Mourdock said. “Global caps in the last 15 years receded until last year on Mars, but what do we have in common with Mars? Last time I checked, only the sun.” Mourdock explained that humans aren’t the cause of global warming and that it’s something bigger in the universe, such as the sun. [Indiana Statesman, 4/25/08]
“Clearly, Lugar is out of touch with Hoosier conservatives if he thinks that serving on the board of groups that advocate ‘cap and trade’ carbon tax schemes and the junk science associated with global climate change alarmism is prudent when he represents a state that meets the majority of its electrical needs with coal-fired generators.” [The Hill, 4/5/12]
“We are basing our energy policy on the greatest hoax of all time, which is that mankind is changing the climate.” [American Spectator, 5/9/12]
Mourdock’s rejection of scientific fact doesn’t just have theoretical implications. As Mike Oles pointed out in September, Indiana has been devastated by the carbon-fueled drought of 2012:
Rain during the last few weeks have allowed Indiana to go from being in an exceptional and extreme drought zone to merely a severe one, but the damage has been done. It was miserable this summer in the Hoosier state. Way too hot and way too dry, served up with dire warnings of “fireweather.” Nearly every major Indiana City broke or tied records for the hottest day on record and Terre Haute set at an all-time state record at 108°F. July was the hottest month on record in Indiana and June was the driest. It gets worse. The Union of Concerned Scientists have painted an even bleaker picture for Indiana over the next century if nothing is done to combat greenhouse emissions. The 2012 drought might just be the beginning.
Richard Mourdock’s campaign is financed by the coal industry.
Brad Johnson is the campaign manager of Forecast the Facts and ClimateSilence.org.
Previous in TP Climate Progress
Language Intelligence: Lessons on persuasion from Jesus, Shakespeare, Lincoln, and Lady Gaga
Mourdoch is ahead, and Romney, for the first time, leads in the Realclearpolitics electoral college count.
Not good. How can people vote for guys like Romney, Mourdoch and Brown? There is something wrong here, and the corporation/media nexus has a lot do do with it.
Ignore RCP. Stick with Nate or Princeton.
“Romney campaign stands by Mourdock”.
Women.. For Goodness sake.. WAKE UP..
If ever there WAS a sign from God, this would be one of them.. These ‘men’ who are completely uneducated and ignorant about a woman’s body, want to be in charge of the laws that Govern YOUR body. There is no other way to put it. Welcome to the year 1642 where science and medicine take a back seat. Don’t even dare mention the earth revolves around the sun.
The Governor has said if he wins the Presidency that he would sign legislation if presented, that bans abortion. And you have GOP senators and Congressmen who have now said that women who get raped have no medical worries as they can’t get pregnant if they are ‘really’ raped, and now with Mourdoch, it is ‘God’s Gift’.
Seriously..
Vote like YOUR life, your daughter’s life and health depends on it.. It’s not playtime anymore, they are playing for keeps and total control.Have no doubt, this is ‘the big grab’.
chas, Your messaging to women has gone astray.
Women asleep? Not much of that.
Instructing women how to vote? Surely you could realize how that sounds.
I can’t think of any group or generation of women who refer to policy on reproduction as “playtime.” What were you thinking?
Women are the majority, we include many points of view, and some of us vote.
My daughter, my daughter-in-law, and I will all be voting.
If rape is a “gift from God,” then so is pedophile Priests! Starvation of the masses. Cancer, Guinea Worms, Torturers, You name it! You can’t have it both ways. Presumable “God” gave you free will to act in “His/Her/Its” name. USE IT! VOTE the vermin out of power…
Women have surpassed men in earning bachelors and advanced college degrees. More than 55% of college enrollments are now women. Women comprise 46% of the workforce, and the labor-market participation rate for women 25 to 44 years of age is more than 75 percent.
Here’s a question:
Does anyone really think any of this would be possible without women’s access to the full range of family planning options that have been available since anti-contraception laws were overturned in the 1960s and Roe v. Wade was decided in the 1970s?
Many, many women and men have fought long and hard to acquire & improve these economic opportunities for women…our daughters, granddaughters, wives, sisters and nieces. When Mitt Romney says that women are mainly interested in economic issues, he ignores this fact: for women, family planning/reproductive health IS AT THE CORE of their economic opportunities, autonomy and decisions. All that is on the line now, so to both women and men — think carefully before you VOTE.
good election map:
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/topoftheticket/la-na-tt-ohio-voters-20121024,0,2174229.story
As a scientist who lives, works and votes in Indiana, I am sickened by the prospect of “being represented” by Mourdoch. It’s a close race and I have given money to the Democratic candidate, Joe Donnelly. With the Senate in the balance, please consider supporting Donnelly with a small contribution. I can only hope that Mourdoch’s comments on rape, together with earlier comments deriding bipartisanship, will cost him votes.
Mourdoch is a former coal mining executive who used right wing support to upset Sen Lugar, a respected moderate republican Senator. Mourdoch also has a degree in geology, so his complete denial of science is not be based on an inability to understand basic science.
My conservative House Rep, Marlin Stutzman at least replies to my letters, saying that he will take my views on environment issues into account when he votes. Since Mourdoch uses the term “junk science” I don’t see how he can even politely reply to my views. How can he represent me? He has a record of taking extreme ideological positions and is a real threat to our nation.