Rick Santorum: Herman Cain just waffled on abortion

Republican Herman Cain continued his presidential close-up on Wednesday with an interview with Piers Morgan that aired late Wednesday on CNN.

One of the first topics was where the blame lies for the current economic meltdown. From the transcript:

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain delivers a keynote address during the Western Republican Leadership Conference on Wednesday in Las Vegas. AP/Isaac Brekken

Morgan: Give me — give me a very quick pie. Here’s a pie. How much is Obama’s fault? How much is Wall Street’s a fault? How much is the fault of the people themselves?

Cain: I would say that 50 percent of it is Obama’s fault, 25 percent of it is Wall Street’s fault, and 25 percent of it is the individual’s fault.

Morgan: That’s a straight answer, from a politician.

Cain: I’m not a politician.

The pair then strayed into the topic of homosexuality. Cain repeated his contention that sexual orientation was a choice:

Morgan: Wait a minute, let me ask you. You genuinely believe millions of Americans wake up in their late teens normally and go, you know what, I quite fancy being a homosexual? You don’t believe that.

Cain: Piers.

Morgan: Do you?

Cain: You haven’t given me any evidence to convince me otherwise nor has anyone else.

Morgan: My gut instinct, Herman, tells me it has to be a natural thing.

Cain: OK, so it’s your gut instinct against my gut instinct. It’s a wash. It’s a push.

That being said, I respect their right to make that choice. You don’t see me bashing them or anything like that. I respect their right to make that choice. I don’t have to agree with it. That’s all I’m saying.

Morgan: It would be like a gay person saying, Herman, you made a choice to be black.

Cain: We know that’s not the case. I was born black.

Morgan: Yes, maybe if they said that, you would find it offensive. CAIN: Piers, this doesn’t wash off. I hate to burst your bubble.

Morgan: I don’t think being a homosexual washes off.

GOP presidential rival Rick Santorum, the former U.S. senator from Pennsylvania, this afternoon attacked Cain for comments he made in the following section, on the topic of abortion. The former Georgia radio talk show host said he believes that life begins at conception – but also added that abortion “ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make.”

Santorum – who has based his campaign on gathering support from social conservatives — called the comments “gravely troubling.” The Iowa Republican is raising similar questions.

You decide:

Morgan: But you’ve had children, grandchildren. If one of your female children, grand children was raped, you would honestly want her to bring up that baby as her own?

Cain: You’re mixing two things here, Piers?

Morgan: Why?

Cain: You’re mixing –

Morgan: That’s what it comes down to.

Cain: No, it comes down to it’s not the government’s role or anybody else’s role to make that decision. Secondly, if you look at the statistical incidents, you’re not talking about that big a number. So what I’m saying is it ultimately gets down to a choice that that family or that mother has to make.

Not me as president, not some politician, not a bureaucrat. It gets down to that family. And whatever they decide, they decide. I shouldn’t have to tell them what decision to make for such a sensitive issue.

Morgan: By expressing the view that you expressed, you are effectively — you might be president. You can’t hide behind now the mask, if you don’t mind me saying, of being the pizza guy. You might be the president of United States of America. So your views on these things become exponentially massively more important. They become a directive to the nation.

Cain: No they don’t. I can have an opinion on an issue without it being a directive on the nation. The government shouldn’t be trying to tell people everything to do, especially when it comes to social decisions that they need to make.

Morgan: That’s a very interesting departure –

Cain: Yes.

Morgan: — from the normal politics.

Cain: Exactly.

Cain has been criticized for conducting a cable TV campaign rather than building networks of supporters in early primary states.

He returned to Iowa today after a two-month absence, and announced that his effort in that state would be headed by former Iowa GOP chairman Steve Grubbs.

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

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