It took Republicans two days to address Planned Parenthood attack — and some are still silent

Several Republican presidential candidates finally broke their silence on Sunday about the shootings at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado.

Three people, including a devout police officer, were killed in the attack on Friday, but most GOP candidates—perhaps unsure how to deal with an attack on one of the party’s most hated organizations—said nothing about the shootings for nearly two days.

Sunday changed that, somewhat. The biggest factor appeared to be whether or not the candidate was going on television on Sunday morning. Those that did—like Carly Fiorina, Mike Huckabee, Ben Carson and Donald Trump—were forced to talk about the shootings because they were asked about them by journalists. Fiorina said the attack was “a tragedy, especially on a holiday weekend,” and Huckabee called it an act of “domestic terrorism.” Both candidates’ words were coupled, though, with renewed denunciations of Planned Parenthood.

Carson, who has compared abortion to slavery, told ABC News that “the rhetoric from either side” should be toned down.

Others stuck to their silence. As of 10:30 AM on Sunday morning, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie and Rand Paul, as well as more minor candidates like George Pataki, Rick Santorum and Jim Gilmore, had still said nothing about the attacks.