Mike Huckabee: Forcible Rape Creates Extraordinary People

Former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee jumped into the Todd Akin rape fray by opining that some extraordinary people have been born as a result of forcible rape.

Rep. Todd Akin, a Tea Party-backed Missouri Republican running for Senate, raised eyebrows and ire over the weekend after he asserted that women don’t get pregnant from “legitimate rape.” Most politicians, regardless of party affiliation, rushed to condemn Akin’s now-retracted remarks. President Barack Obama retorted that “rape is rape.” Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called his comments “inexcusable,” “insulting” and “wrong.” GOP senators such as Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Rob Johnson of Wisconsin called on Akin to withdraw from his Senate race.

But there was one national political figure who took the opportunity to affirm his staunch opposition to abortion under any circumstances. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and onetime Republican presidential candidate, opined that although rapes are “horrible tragedies,” they sometimes produce amazing people.

“Ethel Waters, for example, was the result of a forcible rape,” Huckabee said on his syndicated radio program. Waters was a legendary blues, jazz and gospel singer known for hits like “Dinah,” “Stormy Weather” and “Am I Blue?” She died in 1977.

“I used to work for James Robison back in the 1970s, he leads a large Christian organization,” Huckabee continued. Robison is a televangelist and founder of the Christian relief group Life Outreach International.

“He, himself was the result of a forcible rape.”

“And so I know it happens,” Huckabee said, “and even from those horrible, horrible tragedies of rape, which are inexcusable and indefensible, life has come and sometimes, you know, those people are able to do extraordinary things.”

Huckabee, one of the most outspoken abortion foes in the nation, supports a constitutional ban on abortion. He also opposes life-saving stem cell research and says that by deciding abortion is okay, “we’re our own god.”

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