This Post Is Brilliant. Period.

Herman Cain: " I am pro-life. Period."

That was the content of Herman Cain's tweet on Thursday, necessitated by a critical departure the previous night with Republican orthodoxy when the candidate engaged in this exchange (interview transcript here) with Larry King's replacement, Piers Morgan:

MORGAN: Abortion. What's your view of abortion?

CAIN: I believe that life begins at conception. And abortion under no circumstances. And here's why --

MORGAN: No circumstances?

CAIN: No circumstances.

MORGAN: Because many of your fellow candidates -- some of them qualify that.

CAIN: They qualify but --

MORGAN: Rape and incest.

CAIN: Rape and incest.

MORGAN: Are you honestly saying -- again, it's a tricky question, I know.

CAIN: Ask the tricky question.

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.

Allowing an exception for rape or incest is no radical departure from being largely "pro-life." And Salon's Steve Kornacki maintains" I’m guessing that Cain was talking only about the specific type of situation Morgan brought up — abortion in the case of rape or incest — and that he thought this was clear. But it’s not."

Ah, well, it's not clear, nor is it likely. Just guessing- but if I were a Republican and supported the right to an abortion only in the case of rape or incest, I not only would make it clear, but would tie it in with the woman being the victim of a vicious, unspeakable crime (not actually unspeakable, but you get the point). And then I would not utter the following pro-choice boilerplate:

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.

Give Citizen Cain credit, however. One of the two leading candidates for the GOP nomination for president says the decision whether to terminate a pregnancy should be made by the woman rather a priest, minister, or politician and there is virtual silence in the mainstream media. He decrees "end of story" and the story (virtually) ends. Apparently, if one makes a gaffe and wants to end all conversation, he or she merely needs to make a short, simple, and definitive statement contradicting the previous comment. Period.

Imagine the possibilities:

Charlie Manuel: The Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees are in the World Series. Period.

Rush Limbaugh: Greenhouse gases have nothing to do with global warming. Global warming is a hoax. Period.

Sarah Palin: I did not quit being governor to make millions of dollars.

Make up your own. The possibilities are endless.

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