The Romney campaign tells CNN reporter Jim Acosta that “we’ve not asked [Richard Mourdock's] campaign to pull” an ad Romney cut this week asking voters to “join me in supporting Richard Mourdock for U.S. Senate.” And a subsequent campaign statement confirmed that “[w]e disagree on the policy regarding exceptions for rape and incest but still support him.” Watch Romney’s ad supporting Mourdock:

Romney may “disagree” with Mourdock’s claim that a pregnancy resulting from rape is a “gift from God,” but that disagreement apparently only goes but so far. Romney’s official position now appears to be that he does not share Mourdock’s belief that a pregnancy resulting from rape is a “gift,” but he still wants the people of Indiana to “join” him in working to make Mourdock one of the most powerful people in the country.

Moreover, Mourdock mocked the very idea that Medicare and Social Security are constitutional months before Romney endorsed him and before Mourdock made his “gift from God” comment. So even if Romney were to eventually withdraw his endorsement, the fact remains that he was perfectly comfortable endorsing a man who believes that America’s most basic promises to the nation’s seniors violates the Constitution.

In a debate on Tuesday night, Indiana GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock said that raped women should not be permitted access to an abortion, because the pregnancy is a “gift from God, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape.”

A top Republican has already jumped to Mourdock’s defense. National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) Chair Sen. John Cornyn (TX), the Republican tasked with overseeing the GOP’s Senate elections strategy, immediately defended Mourdock in a statement on Wednesday morning:

“Richard and I, along with millions of Americans – including even Joe Donnelly – believe that life is a gift from God. To try and construe his words as anything other than a restatement of that belief is irresponsible and ridiculous.”

Two months ago, the NRSC disavowed Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin after he claimed “legitimate rape” does not lead to pregnancy. Cornyn was one of the first Republicans to condemn Akin, calling for him to exit. “Congressman Akin’s statements were wrong, offensive, and indefensible,” Cornyn said. “I recognize that this is a difficult time for him, but over the next twenty-four hours, Congressman Akin should carefully consider what is best for him, his family, the Republican Party, and the values that he cares about and has fought for throughout his career in public service.” However, weeks later, the NRSC quietly considered reentering the Missouri race. Cornyn said, “we hope Todd Akin wins in November.”

Mourdock, part of a growing number of Republicans hoping to deny abortion access to women, received a high-level endorsement from Mitt Romney earlier this week.

NEW ALBANY, Indiana — At a debate this evening with his Democratic opponent Rep. Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Indiana GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock claimed that raped women should be forced to carry their rapist’s baby to term because their forced pregnancy is a “gift from God”:

I believe life begins at conception. The only exception I have for to have an abortion is in the case of the life of the mother. I struggled with myself for a long time but I came to realize life is that gift from God, even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape. It is something that God intended to happen.

Watch it:

Throughout his campaign, Mourdock has left no doubt that he believes in a sacred right to life that begins at conception and ends at birth. Earlier this year, Mourdock mocked the very idea that Social Security and Medicare — programs that millions of seniors depend on to save their lives — are even constitutional.

Indiana GOP U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock thinks that Medicare and Social Security are unconstitutional. We know this because there is video of Mourdock expressing his incredulity at the idea that the Constitution permits the safety net for seniors to exist — in Mourdock’s words, “I challenge you in Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution. where those so-called enumerated powers are listed, I challenge you to find words that talk about ‘Medicare’ or ‘Medicaid’ or, yes, even ‘Social Security.’”

You can watch Mourdock mock the very idea that Social Security and Medicare are constitutional here:

Naturally, a group allied with Mourdock’s opponent is now running an ad informing Indiana’s voters of his belief that Medicare and Social Security offend our nation’s most fundamental principles — and Mourdock suddenly wants to pretend that he believes something else:

Titled “Unconstitutional,” [the ad] starts with World War II-era footage, and then shows several elderly people. “They earned it,” a narrator says. “But Richard Mourdock thinks Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional.” . . .

Mourdock shot back that the ad is a Democratic effort to “buy this seat with big, out-of-state dollars and sad distortions.”

“In typical Washington fashion, this ad scares seniors by distorting the truth,” Mourdock said. “I won’t support reform that cuts entitlements for folks 55 years and older.”

For the record, Mr. Mourdock, if you don’t want to give people the impression that you want to eliminate Medicare and Social Security, you might not want to call them unconstitutional while the camera is rolling.

Rep. Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin (R-MO) does not just have an unusually weak understanding of human biology, he also has a similar inability to understand the Constitution. Akin doubts the constitutionality of Medicare and other federal health care programs, in addition to believing that national school lunch programs violate the Constitution.

Akin is not alone. At least one other major Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate believes that Medicare and other essential federal programs are unconstitutional. At a Tea Party rally last May, Indiana U.S. Senate candidate Richard Mourdock questioned the constitutionality of America’s social safety net for seniors:

Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security — I challenge you in Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution. where those so-called enumerated powers are listed, I challenge you to find words that talk about “Medicare” or “Medicaid” or, yes, even “Social Security.”

Watch it:

For the record, the very first sentence of Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which provides that “[t]he Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts and excises, to pay the debts and provide for the common defense and general welfare of the United States,” is what allows the United States to create social welfare programs such as Medicare.

If Akin and Mourdock win their bids to become United States Senators, they will not be the only ones who share this belief that the Founding Fathers intended for seniors to be left to the wolves. Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Tom Coburn (R-OK) have also indicated that they think Medicare is unconstitutional.