Posted on 08/17/2007 8:28:33 AM PDT by 14themunny
Despite his pro-life campaign pitch, former Gov. Mitt Romney owns stock in two companies involved in embryonic stem cell research, a controversial field of study he previously cited as the reason for his rightward shift on abortion.
Romney holds stock in the biomedical firms Novo Nordisk and Millipore Corp., both of which use human embryos to research cures for chronic diseases, records show. Many conservatives fiercely oppose the research because it destroys the embryos in the process.
I believe (pulling the investments) is a step he should take, said Mildred Jefferson, president of Massachusetts Citizens for Life. I do believe (Romney) is an honorable man, and having declared that he understands the ethical violation in embryonic stem cell research, I feel certain he would not want to have his money go to support it.
In his public actions, Romney has occupied a middle ground on stem cell research. He has supported research using excess embryos created at
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bostonherald.com ...
Anyway, I don't think Rush needs to look into it. The Romney campaign made it clear that the investments were made by the blind trust:
"Romney, by far the wealthiest of the presidential candidates, placed his assets in a blind trust after he was elected governor of Massachusetts in 2002. He stressed Wednesday that he is in the dark about the trust's holdings.
The trustee of the blind trust has said publicly that he will endeavor to make my investments conform to my positions and I have confidence that he will do that well," Romney told reporters during a campaign stop in Georgia.
The trustee for the Romney assets, R. Bradford Malt, said this week he has managed the blind trust without any direction from Romney. But he said he has tried to sell any stock in companies whose activities conflict with Romney's public stands. To that end, Malt said, he sold shares of stock in French and Italian energy companies that had business ties to Iran."
Well, he's not too liberal as his record in Massachusetts disputes that.
As for being too flip-floppy, he's changed from pro-choice to pro-life, the horror. Plus, what politician hasn't changed his mind?
--John McCain voted against the Bush tax cuts. Now he's for them. He was opposed to ethanol. Now he's for it. He said he was opposed to overturning Roe v. Wade. Now he's for overturning Roe v. Wade. He was for amnesty, now he's starting to sing another tune.
--Rudy once advocated strong federal gun controls, including a nationwide mandate to register handgun owners. Now he's emphasizing the 2A and state solutions. Rudy is solidly pro-choice, and even supported a late-term abortion procedure. But now says he opposes partial-birth abortion. He once was a mayor of a sanctuary city, but denies support for any such thing now.
--Fred shifted on interior immigration enforcement and is a bit wobbly on path to citizenship. He now rejects McCain-Feingold which he previously sponsored and is fuzzy on who is and who isn't an appropriate client for which to lobby.
--Hillary, who chastised rival Barack Obama for ruling out the use of nuclear weapons in the war on terror, did just that when asked about Iran a year ago. "I would certainly take nuclear weapons off the table," she said in April 2006. Clinton, who voted for the Iraq War and then argued it would be a mistake to set a "date certain for withdrawing American troops from Iraq, is now declaring that she wants to end the War yesterday.
--Obama, the anti-war candidate, now says hell invade a country who is an ally on the WOT and also recently shifted positions on coal fuels.
I am sure there are just as many position shifts among the second tier of both parties.
The abortion worshipper from NYC, Giuliani, is waging a jihad against so/cons---trying to dump us off the Repub Party flotilla.
By contrast, Romney has actively courted RTL'ers (attended the RTL convention, for example).
Now is the time for RTL to hold Romney's feet to the fire-----RTL should demand the investment be curtailed.
Romney should understand he must respect the RTL agenda (even if he had not planned to do so).
Respect the RTL agenda, or forget RTL votes.
Hello, is that you Howard Dean? James Carville? Elizabeth Edwards? Sounds like it.
_______
LOL. Yes it is me, all three of them. I raised a contrary point so I must be dem plant/troll.
Too funny.
Managing a trust since 2002, eh? That means there were investments already in place, right? I’m just asking the simple question, when did the stem cell company stock get purchased? Before or after the trust?
You’d think I accused him of traveling with his pet dog on the roof of his car or something.
You try to dissemble and misdirect for your candidate. That's deceit, girl! The stocks were purchased prior to being dumped into a blind trust. Did the Romneys purchase the stocks they subsequently dumped into a blind trust? You are avoiding answering that question and instead you Mittbots try to trick people into thinking he had nothing to do with the stocks in ESC harvesting/sales companies. This is becoming a pattern with Romney political operatives!
Whatever, Once Again you ignore facts and make up sh*t. Good Day to you.
Completely apart from all of this, Romney has made it clear that he does not support the Reagan RTL plank in the GOP platform. He’s tried to play both sides of it, but he came down firmly in the Gerald Ford position vis a vis life.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1882465/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1882465/posts?page=19#19
If the Boston Globe said water was wet, you’d foam at the mouth and swear it was as dry as the Sahara desert.
1)There is no evidence the stocks were purchased in advance. Why spread untruths about something you don't know? Post #61 clearly indicates the assets were placed into the blind trust, not holdings. The blind trust then invested the assets in the holdings.
2) Even if he had known (which he did not), you mischaracterize the company. The company did NOT clone or harvest embryos. The company in question conducts research only on the embryos already slated for destruction by fertility clinics which most Americans have made the Hobbesian choice to support. Similarly, like the unfortunate abortion exception most make for rape, incest or health of the mother, most have chosen not to allow oppose this type of research when the embryos would otherwise we destroyed.
Do we wish there were no discarded embryos at fertility clinics slated for destruction? Yes. Do we wish all "parents" of these embryos chose to give them up for adoption instead? Yes. Is that the current reality? No.
LOL. we = be
The Romney position:
"Some animals are more equal than others."
Ah, the old "the Jew is already dead, so why not make a lampshade from their skin" argument.
Well that’s it for me. He can take his slick-willy smile and all his cash and go home.
I thought his investments were in a blind trust.
This doesn’t excuse him... he needs to tread very lightly between his political speech and his financial actions.
People do stand up and take notice when they find discrepancies.
So killing the embryos for their body parts is okay so long as there is a utility to it. Got it. So the Romneys can profit from the killing since there is a utility to the killing. Right. Got it. Sounds a lot like the spin regarding the profits from porn sales at Marriotts. But then, any religion that can spin polygamy as necessary to receive blessings from God can spin any behavior for the utility of it, in men’s eyes of the religion.
The article isn’t fom the Boston Globe, but Boston Herald. (different publication)
I'm laughing, but that really isn't funny.
Post #61 clearly indicates the assets were placed into the blind trust, not holdings. The blind trust then invested the assets in the holdings.
__________
You make it sound as though Romney had no investments prior to 2002, that all he had was cash. Is that the position you are taking? That would seem odd to me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.