Gingrich on rape comment: 'Get over it'

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WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Sunday Democrats are "fixated" on an Indiana U.S. Senate candidate's remarks on rape and should "get over it."

In an appearance on ABC's "This Week," Gingrich said "virtually every Catholic and every fundamentalist in the country" agrees with the comment by Republican Senate nominee Richard Mourdock, who said during a candidates' debate last week "even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something God intended to happen."

He said Mourdock "immediately issued a clarification saying he was referring to the act of conception, and he condemned rape."

"Now, this seems to be fixated by the Democrats, but the radical on abortion is [President Barack] Obama, who as a state senator voted three times in favor of allowing doctors to kill babies in the eighth and ninth month who were born, having survived late-term abortion," Gingrich said.

Obama has said he voted against so-called born-alive infant bills in the Illinois state Senate because they would have undermined abortion rights.

"Every candidate I know, every decent American I know condemns rape," Gingrich said. "OK, so why can't people like [Obama deputy campaign manager] Stephanie Cutter get over it? We all condemn rape."

Gingrich also said the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, attacks and Hurricane Sandy will weigh down Obama's campaign.

He said Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta refused to obey Obama's order to get aid to the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi -- and he believes that will hurt the president's campaign for re-election.

"If the president is telling the truth and he actually instructed his assistants to get aid to Benghazi, we're now being told that the secretary of defense canceled that," said Gingrich, who was a candidate this year for the Republican president nomination that eventually went to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

"And I think these kind of things all drag down the Obama campaign. You'll notice he's canceling his trips over the hurricane. He did not cancel his trips over Benghazi. And so you have to wonder, between Benghazi, the price of gasoline, and unemployment, just how much burden the president's going to carry into this last week."

Gingrich said he's certain Romney will win both the popular and electoral votes.

"... I think it's very unlikely he can win a significant popular victory vote and not carry the Electoral College," Gingrich said.