Romney Meets Russert (Romney utterly Clintonian)

--On guns, he may have gotten himself in trouble, in an attempt to diffuse the flip-flop label, by standing by his support for the Brady Bill and the 1994 assault weapons ban. He even said he would have signed an extension of the assault weapons ban when it expired in 2004. He also employed the odd phrase "weapons of unusual lethality" to describe the type of guns he would ban.

--On immigration, Romney was utterly Clintonian. He said that when in November 2005 he described the Bush/McCain approach to immigration as "reasonable" and "quite different" from amnesty, he wasn't endorsing the proposal, but just describing it. He hadn't formulated his own position on immigration at the time. That's right up there with Hillary Clinton saying in the debate that she didn't say she supported driver's licenses for illegal immigrants, but she just said that a proposal to do so "makes sense." Even if we were to get into the Christmas spirit and be extraordinarily generous by granting Romney that an elected official saying pending legislation is "reasonable" doesn't constitute support for the legislation, it still doesn't get him off the hook. His description of the proposal was that it was "quite different" from amnesty, and yet during this year he has ceaselessly leveled attacks on McCain by accusing him of supporting "amnesty."

--On health care, I thought it was noteworthy that Romney hopes other states will follow the Massachusetts model so that insurance will be mandated nationwide (even if it isn't by the federal government). So philosophically, he still holds out hope that every American will be forced to purchase health insurance, but he just thinks that personal liberty should be violated on a state-by-state basis.

The term for this is "Cognitive Dissonance". It is a common thing in the LDS, since the church has changed it's position on many issues and has to come to terms somehow.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

Also, google Mormon cognitive dissonance.

What the hell do I care what Klein has to say? He wants people to vote for GIULIANI?! Klein has nada to say about social policy and the NRA.

Lets take a look at immigration. Mitt Romney’s record is the most congruent of all the top candidates. In fact, it blows Fred Thompson’s new found expediency on the issue out of the water. If you want to shut down LEGAL immigration, good luck with that, because the majority people want enforcement and elimination of incentives to ILLEGAL immigration.

http://www.betterimmigration.com/candidates/2006/prez08_gop1.html
—snip—
Assessment of Past Immigration Actions in Political Office
Romney: Good
Fred: Fair

Now take a good look—if you want to stop LEGAL immigration, Mitt is not your person.

We have the best economy in world. Our financial economy wants legal, high skilled immigrants. They fuel entrepreneurship as much as anyone. It fuels our growth and keeps us competitive.

Reduce Illegal Immigration
Romney: Good
Fred: Good

Reduce Legal Immigration (dog whistle)
Romney: Bad
Fred: Good

Fred is inconsistent on two fronts. First his record on illegal immigration does not match his new rhetoric. And THEN his record on LEGAL immigration does NOT match his new strict stance.

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