We need to stop this silliness over the flip-flop issue. It was lame argument back during the 2004 election and it’s even more lame now. Romney admits he’s changed, but who cares? As long as he’s realizing his mistakes and changing in the right direction (i.e. more conservative) that’s all I care about. I don’t see any indication that once he changed a position, he then turned around and changed it back. Remember that this is a guy who’s not a career politician—he was a businessman up until he became governor and so a lot of these social issues that people are so hung up on likely weren’t things he had to deal with until he had actually faced them as governor. Once he was in those shoes, Romney saw first-hand “row after row of human life” being treated as mere Play Doh for the clone-happy researchers at Harvard, and he realized how sick the process had become as a result of a Roe vs. Wade mindset. So he changed and I’m not going to beat him up over it.
I hear the suspicions about of his recent conversion (i.e. only two years ago), but I should point out that virtually all of these social issues (gay marriage, stem cell research, cloning, etc.) literally fell into Romney’s lap while he was governor—he did not actively seek them out for political reasons. Remember that he’s from Massachusetts, not Mississippi, so the likelihood that these things were forced onto his plate is not at all surprising. Out of necessity, he had to learn everything about them and once he did, he ended up taking the conservative position on every single one of them (although he’s never changed his belief that traditional marriage should be protected). When you realize you’re wrong, you either a) realize you are wrong and make a change or b) realize you are wrong but hold onto your existing belief in order to save your pride. So people need to ask themselves whether they want someone who is never willing to change their mind when they realize they’ve made a mistake, or someone who sticks to their guns no matter the consequences. If it’s the latter, then obviously Romney’s not gonna be their choice and that’s fine. Personally, I would much rather have the former.
I don’t like the fact that Sam Brownback is backing this immigration giveaway. Very disturbing.