Herman Cain’s ridiculous self-contradictory statements on abortion are beginning to piss off the religious right, who want their candidates to be as rabidly anti-abortion as possible: Herman Cain’s Abortion Comments Roil Iowa Republicans.

WASHINGTON — The first signs of real damage to Herman Cain’s campaign emerged Thursday as his position on abortion — that he is personally anti-abortion but believes it’s “not the government’s role … to make that decision” — began to register with conservative Iowa activists.

“That is a pro-choice position,” Bob Vander Plaats, a social conservative leader in Iowa, told The Huffington Post. “It’s not where we’re at on the issue and it’s not where a lot of caucus-goers are at on the life issue. They believe Roe v. Wade should be overturned.”

Cain put out a statement late in the day on Thursday trying to clarify his position, but he still did not address the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, raising questions about whether he believes in the legal right to abortion despite his strenuous rhetoric in the past claiming to be, in his own words, “pro-life.”

Cain said he thought the question he was asked by CNN’s Piers Morgan on Wednesday night was “whether that I, as president, would simply ‘order’ people to not seek an abortion.”

“My answer was focused on the role of the President. The President has no constitutional authority to order any such action by anyone. That was the point I was trying to convey. As to my political policy view on abortion, I am 100% pro-life. End of story. I will appoint judges who understand the original intent of the Constitution. Judges who are committed to the rule of law know that the Constitution contains no right to take the life of unborn children,” Cain said in his statement. “I will oppose government funding of abortion. I will veto any legislation that contains funds for Planned Parenthood. I will do everything that a President can do, consistent with his constitutional role, to advance the culture of life.”

It’s like a pathetic parody of a waffling politician. Cain is giving Sarah Palin a run for her money in the “word salad” department.