Posted on 12/22/2007 12:18:55 PM PST by Ol' Sparky
YOU'VE SEEN the cover stories. You've heard the jokes. Mitt Romney's flip flops have provided endless fodder for the late night talk show circuit. But just beneath the humorous surface lies the Democratic strategy for defeating a Romney ticket come November, and history shows this strategy works.
American voters don't trust chronic flip floppers. Sure, everyone is free to switch a position here and there, but too many changes of heart and you risk offending the country's sense of integrity and fair play. George Bush's 2004 victory over John Kerry is a great example. My Democratic friends groan when I remind them of this line: "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." Kerry's ability to convincingly connect with average Americans was undermined by their suspicion that today's press release was tomorrow's fish wrap.
More troubling to me, though, is Mitt Romney's denunciation of key political beliefs he professed during his campaigns for public office in Massachusetts. Flash back to 1994 and 2002, and you'll see a very different candidate. Then, he was a typical Massachusetts Republican -- conservative on fiscal issues, progressive on social issues. He pledged to be more effective than Ted Kennedy on gay rights. He backed the Brady Bill Assault Weapons Ban. He even supported the so-called "morning after" pill. Invoking his trailblazing mother, Romney made an ironclad commitment to Roe v. Wade.
But a funny thing has happened on the way to the White House. Today, Mitt Romney is campaigning on his record as governor; yet he has become unrecognizable to the citizens who voted him into office.
I should know. As a Massachusetts state senator, I was one of Mitt's early supporters in his 1994 contested primary for the United States Senate. As acting governor of Massachusetts in 2002, I ended my own campaign for the Republican nomination to give Romney the best opportunity to beat the Democratic candidate that November.
This bluest of blue states had a long, successful string of GOP governors (since broken with the election of Deval Patrick in 2006). Thanks to two-party government, Massachusetts was finally able to shed its "Taxachusetts" label. And despite an economic downturn and the 2001 terrorist attacks, the GOP leadership had laid a strong foundation for growth and recovery. Mitt Romney looked like a winner committed to the principles that had put Massachusetts back on track.
Once elected governor, however, Romney began his transformation of consciousness. His flip flops on social issues are well documented. But Romney also raised taxes -- more than $700 million per year in increased fees and corporate taxes. A 2003 survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures found that Massachusetts imposed the highest fee hikes in the country.
As his national ambitions grew larger, it seems Massachusetts grew smaller in Romney's rearview mirror. The governor who promised to be the salesman-in-chief for his state's economy instead toured the country using us as the butt of his jokes.
It is no surprise, then, that Massachusetts still continues to struggle to reclaim the jobs it lost during the post-9/11 downturn. A recent report published by MassINC, a nonpartisan think tank, revealed that in recent years Massachusetts ranked last in job creation when compared to its 10 economic competitor states. It is the only one of those states not to recover the jobs it had during the 2001 peak business cycle and only one of six states nationally.
Politics is a definition game. If candidates don't successfully define themselves, others will gladly do it for them. Being defined as a chronic flip flopper will make Mitt Romney particularly vulnerable. John McCain -- the candidate I support -- is not. I have great admiration for John McCain because he sticks to his beliefs, even when they are not politically popular. He is defined by his courage. He is respected for his honesty. We disagree on important social issues, but I know where he stands and why. There is no doubt that the John McCain we see today is the same John McCain we will see as the Republican nominee and as President of the United States.
In a Romney-Clinton match-up, Democrats need only take a page from the George W. Bush playbook: Undermine the voters' sense that Romney can be trusted by highlighting the number of times he's conveniently changed his mind. And don't forget: He will have to do some more flipping if he becomes the party's nominee. Romney would have to tack back toward the middle -- where most American voters comfortably sit -- in order to win. That might just be a flip-flop-flap.
Jane Swift served as actring governor of Massachusetts from 2001 to 2003.
I just think he’s lived a life isolated by religion, family, and education from the experience of most Americans. Further, I don’t think a couple of years as Governor, and a few more away, stroking up Republican Poobahs is enough political experience. He spent his last two years trying to pass off the stinky sneaker of the no Massachusetts Miracle( reduex Dukakis )into a pair of Bruno Maglias. And spreading Joe Kennedy like cash.
Romney is not my first choice but he is clearly better than McCain or Huckabee. The nomination process does not look good to me. The two worst candidates are rising (Huckabee and McCain), the best candidate (Thompson) is stalled, and the middle candidates (Giuliani and Romney) are sinking. It looks like we will have strong rat control for a long time.
Consider the facts of all of Romney’s flip-flops.
Back to the lurking mode for me.
Jane Swift might as well have been a Democrat, she’s no Republican imo.
Reposting this by Jane Swift? Didn’t you or someone else do that on December 11th? Ah well, enjoy.
How many kids did Romney have when he said that he wants abortion to be “safe and legal?” How can you have had children and still believe that abortion could ever be “safe?” It sure is not safe if you are the one being “aborted.”
It reminds me of when Hitler decided to stop using firing squads to kill masses of Jews, because it was psychologically damaging the squads, and switch to Zyklon B instead.
He did.He ran against Fat Boy Teddy and got his clock cleaned.
“And if he had, he’s still be for abortion on demand, for the homosexual agenda.........”
In defense of Romney he did force the Massachusetts Legislature to vote on Gay Marriage (while they were content on just accepting the SJC edict) and he did push back the Legislature’s attempt to allow in-state tuition rates for illegal immigrants.
He did this with an overwhelming Democratic majority in the Mass Legislature.
Watch Romney's "deer-in-the-headlights" debate performance and see for yourself.
Mitt found himself completely on the defensive. This was the debate that finished him off.
“Sour grapes from a political loser.”
Jane Swift certainly is a political loser, as is Cellucci imo.
Delusional much?
It’s easy to agree with this article, but the author of it is not strong on credibility.
Ten foil hat alert
This article is dead on target. Underneath the Romney Millions of $$$$ is a candidate that will say and do anything to win. He has absolutely no sense of honor.
Even a liberal Republican like Jane Swift can see the big problem with Romney.
That just it, we are...
Um...
Ok...
If Republicans nominate Huckaby, they will lose big! Remember the southern baptists: Carter, Clinton and Huck!
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