I know exactly what you are getting at. He is slick. Its the reason I have always referred to der Fliptmeister as Bill Clinton without the wandering libido. U.S. Army Retired |
Posted on 01/04/2008 2:22:35 PM PST by big'ol_freeper
This is Part 1 of my Election '08 analysis of presidential candidate Mitt Romney. Part 2 is forthcoming.
With last night's Iowa caucuses now in the books, former governor and Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney is feeling good (but not great) about his second-place finish to Mike Huckabee in this crucial inaugural state caucus for the Republican nomination for president.
His other opponents did much worse than he did, but Romney had a distant second place finish to Huckabee, even after so much time and money spent in Iowa over the last year. Questions still remain about Romney's major beliefs and principles, however, and I'm not talking about his Mormon religion. On everything from guns and the NRA, abortion rights and emergency contraceptives to gay rights and pardons, this man has flip-flopped so much in recent years that he makes John Kerry look like the model of consistency.
I defy anyone to name another presidential candidate in recent times from any political party who has reversed or backtracked on issue after issue as much as he has and won the White House. And in an election season where voters are looking for a leader they can trust, Mitt Romney's trustworthiness is an issue in and of itself and the fact that Iowa voters preferred the significantly less well known and less wealthy Huckabee should tell you something about how voters feel about him and the Republican field in general. They may be catching on to Romney's record, but so too should the rest of the country.
It is true that anyone with a long career in politics is bound to change his or her mind on some issues over time. However, a majority of the 60-year-old Romney's adult life has been centered on professions or (Mormon) missions outside of politics, much as they may have initially informed his political views. And during his considerably shorter time in the political realm, his views on social and other current issues have evolved at such an alarming rate that you can't blame voters for being skeptical of them and seeking out other candidates.
By now, most political junkies or serious followers of the campaign have either seen on YouTube or heard about the clips showing Romney's formerly pro-abortion, Roe v. Wade and gay rights stances during his failed run for Senator Ted Kennedy's seat in 1994 and successful run for governor in 2002. In the latter year, he revealed that his mother Lenore was pro-choice during her attempt at a Senate seat back in 1970, and that he has long been dedicated to the pro-choice cause himself. He even associated himself with Planned Parenthood in 1994.
As governor though, he began his transformation on pro-choice rights by flip-flopping on legislation that made the "morning after" pill available to Massachusetts citizens. First, in mid-2005 he opposed its use for rape victims after pledging to increase its access, according to the Washington Post. Late in 2005, he signed a bill increasing its access to MA citizens and made all state hospitals comply with the law, and also made the pill available to rape victims, all to the dismay of pro-lifers in the state. Nowadays though, he considers himself a mostly pro-life conservative and supports repealing Roe.
Regarding gay rights, he has flip-flopped on civil unions in recent years and after having participated in the Boston Gay Pride Parade in 2002 and having run "to the left of Ted Kennedy" on gay rights in 1994, he now emphatically calls homosexuality destructive to the idea of the American family and strongly opposes gay marriage. He may be going too far in denunciating the gay life style but his opposition to gay marriage is a position I share as is his belief that MA voters should get a chance to approve or disapprove of its legality. Even with a new governor in town (Democrat Deval Patrick), we're still waiting for that chance.
Mitt Romney also changed his attitude toward gun rights over time. In the 1990s, he supported the Brady Handgun Violence Protect Act of 1993, but now opposes gun control, with the exception of a ban on assault weapons. And as Tim Russert pointed out on December 16, 2007 in his one-on-one interview on "Meet The Press, Romney used to say he doesn't "line up" with the NRA, but he's now a lifetime member! And, he recently claimed he was a lifelong hunter of varmints and rodents. This flip-flop on gun rights would be really funny if it wasn't so politically opportunistic like many of his other reversals.
On Romney's Meet The Press appearance, Russert cornered him on a host of issues, starting with his December 6, 2007 'Faith In America' speech in which he stated that "Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom." However, when Russert asked him if an athiest can be a moral person and "participate in freedom," Romney flipped and said "Oh, of course."
He tried to explain to Russert that as a nation faith mattered but individually it did not and that there would be no litmus test in presidential appointments. On its face, that's commendable but late in that speech, he said: "Any believer in religious freedom, any person who has knelt in prayer to the Almighty, has a friend and ally in me." That would be Romney saying it does matter if individuals have faith in their life, because if they don't, they are not his "friend" or "ally." What this episode represents is Romney once again talking out of both sides of his mouth.
Looking back, as a Massachusetts citizen, I thought Mitt Romney did a fairly good job of running the state and cleaning up the fiscal mess that his fellow Republican predecessor Jane Swift left behind. However, he had a poor finish to his governorship, as his spending cuts - which among other things hurt the elderly and badly needed nursing programs - to balance the budget late in his term weren't very popular around here. He also raised the gas tax and raised the most fees of any state in the country. By the end of his one and only term last January, Romney's approval rating was only 43%. And with his change of heart on issues he campaigned on as governor and mocking of MA on the presidential campaign trail, you can't blame many of my fellow state citizens for claiming Mitt Romney turned his back on his constituents.
To be continued…
Well, since the next primary is New Hampshire in a couple of days, we have to see what Romney’s strongly held and principled positions are.
Last week’s principals and positions are no guide to the future in cases like this.
| I know exactly what you are getting at. He is slick. Its the reason I have always referred to der Fliptmeister as Bill Clinton without the wandering libido. U.S. Army Retired |
McCain won’t get the nod even if he cleaned up evey vote, the GOP will not let him near it, way to much risk in the General.
The GOP Money Boys are saying “Not just no, but hell no” to Mitt’s 400.00 per vote retail price, it is not just about his money after all.
There is more going on here than the primaries. The GOP hacks are very busy right now.
I love how the Mittbots seem to have an implied threat of some kind. On another thread, there was a link to a site that in effect said, "If you don't vote for Mitt you are bigots and we will not vote for the nominee". I asked the question, "Just who are you gonna vote for then, the DEM?
“I don’t know exactly why, but there is something about Mitt Romney that gives me a sense of dealing with the devil. It’s something beyond his positions and religion. Something about him is very unsettling.”
Ditto. “Unsettling”.
I would have used the word “plastic”, “fake”, or “creepy”
myself...
Wishful thinking.
...and the jingle comes on: "The call him Flipper"
RUSSERT: “Don’t punish those kids.” A week later, you said, “No, no, no, send the parents home,” and what happens to the kids?
HUCKABEE: They go with their parents. I mean, I can’t imagine a parent not taking their children…
RUSSERT: But they’re American citizens. Why do they have to leave the country?
HUCKABEE: Because they’re–first, before they’re American citizens, they’re the children of their parents.
RUSSERT: But aren’t we a “better country,” to quote someone, than that?
HUCKABEE: No, I did not send them home. They will go home within 120-day window, and then they have the process of starting to return.
RUSSERT: But that’s 15 million people. You’re saying to do that would collapse the American economy, and now that’s exactly what you’re proposing.
HUCKABEE: No, I don’t think it would collapse the American economy if people went back and did their process of becoming legal. And all of them aren’t going to go back on the same day. There’s going to be a window of time. How long it’s going to take for them to come back, I don’t know
* * * *
Flip Flop Thompson on taxation:
Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., appears to have flip flopped on his pledge to sign federal legislation replacing all federal taxes with a 23 percent sales tax, according to an unedited FairTax.org video reviewed by ABC News.
"He has not taken this pledge," Thompson spokesperson Linda Rozett told ABC News.
The Thompson camp's denial appears to be contradicted, however, by an unedited FairTax.org video in which Thompson is asked, "Senator, if the House and Senate pass the 'Fair Tax' bill do you feel right now that you would sign it?"
Thompson replies to the question by saying, "Yeah, absolutely."
"Fred Thompson may have spoken without thinking. But the tape is accurate," said FairTax.org spokesman Ken Hoagland.
* * *
Not to be outdone, here are a few of John McCain's flip flops:
In 2006, McCain sponsored legislation to require grassroots lobbying coalitions to reveal their financial donors. In 2007, after receiving “feedback” on the proposal, McCain told far-right activist groups that he now opposes the measure.
* McCain said before the war in Iraq, “We will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” Four years later, McCain said he knew all along that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough.”
* McCain went from saying he would not support repeal of [tag]Roe v. Wade[/tag] to saying the exact opposite.
* McCain went from saying gay marriage should be allowed, to saying gay marriage shouldn’t be allowed.
* McCain criticized TV preacher [tag]Jerry Falwell[/tag] as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but has since decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks. (Indeed, McCain has now hired Falwell’s debate coach.)
* McCain used to oppose Bush’s [tag]tax cuts[/tag] for the very wealthy, but he reversed course in February.
* In 2000, McCain accused Texas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending “dirty money” to help finance Bush’s presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support.
* McCain supported a major campaign-finance reform measure that bore his name. In June, he abandoned his own legislation.
* McCain used to think that Grover Norquist was a crook and a corrupt shill for dictators. Then McCain got serious about running for president and began to reconcile with Norquist.
* McCain took a firm line in opposition to torture, and then caved to White House demands.
* McCain opposed a holiday to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., before he supported it. [corrected]
* McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it.
* McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he’s pro-ethanol.
* McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.
* McCain decided in 2000 that he didn’t want anything to do with former Secretary of State Henry [tag]Kissinger[/tag], believing he “would taint the image of the ‘Straight Talk Express.’” Kissinger is now the Honorary Co-Chair for his presidential campaign in New York.
* McCain is now both open and closed to redeployment in Iraq.
* And McCain claims to have “bitterly disagreed” with a “failed strategy” in Iraq for more than three years, despite having argued the need to “stay the course” just one year ago.
* - * - * - *
I could google flip flop on any candidate all night long and come up with numerous flip flops on them all. Flip flop. Flip flop. Flip flop. If we're basing our vote on non-flip-floopers, we're not voting for anyone. Flip flop away on Romney all you want and while you're at it flip flop away on all the other candidates. It only proves that flip flopping is what candidates do -- ALL of them.
I don’t think it is over for Romney, any more then it is over for anybody. Like it or not, Romney has a lot of money, and I don’t have any problem with him chosing to spend his money. Evangalicals have a tendency to follow directions from their preachers almost lock-step. I think it was an organized protest over Romney being a Mormon. There is nothing wrong with that if that is what they choose to do, but I don’t think that Huckabee has the organization to continue to do that. Plus, Huckabee comes across as a complete popluist. I agree with Rush Limbaugh. Huckabee might be entertaining, but he is not Presidential.
It’s a moot point. Romney is toast, thank God.
Believing Romney is still viable after the trouncing he took in Iowa and the one he’s about to be served by McCain in New Hampshire is wishful thinking. It will all become quite apparent soon enough. But Mitt dropping out in a timely matter with his dignity still intact is probably also wishful thinking. I think he will ride it all the way down to oblivion.
I agree with you, plus I think that people are overlooking Mitt’s good qualities and writing it off as that he is too slick. I disagree, I think they are misreading Mitt completely. I see him as a very down to earth family man who just happens to be very successful. I just don’t see him the way some others describe them. What they take for being slick I see as being a very dignified man with some very good leadership qualities. In other words, someone who is very Presidential.
The Thompson “flip-flop” on the FairTax is weak sauce.
Fred has a long record of supporting a simplified flat income tax, and has never favored a national sales tax.
Fred either misheard the question or more likely was responding to someone else entirely.
It’s an insult to everyone’s intelligence here to peddle that crap.
I don’t know about that. I think that once people stop listening to people like you and make up their own minds, they will see that there is a lot to like about Mitt, much more then there is about Fred or McCain. I am thankful that Mitt has the money to ride this thing enough to have a chance for the truth to get out. I think so many supporters of others have smeared Mitt out of envy, because they know he has the “IT Factor” for Presidential Candidates and it ticks them off. I think that is the bottom line. Fred might be a nice guy who can speak well about conservative issues, but I don’t think he will have a good chance to beat Hillary. If he didn’t have the cahonies to stand up to the Clintons while he was in the Senate what makes you think he will be able to stand up to Hillary in the general election?
Nice hit piece on Romney. You know Ronald Reagan was once pro-choice, and a Democrat...people can legitimately change their minds over time.
Still...if you fail to gain the trust of your voters, you’ve lost everything.
The federal government is in so much need of restructuring, streamlining, etc. Personally I want a more competent, better organized, faster, cheaper, and less intrusive government. Romney is the perfect guy to do this... I’m sorry he’s turned so many conservatives off.
I am so thankful that Mitt is a rich man who is willing to spend his own money. Finally, for the first time in years, I feel that we are having a primary that the Democrats can’t mess with because they have their own mess on their hands in the name of Obama. He is a very well spoken likeable man, liberal though he may be, and he is going to give Hillary a run for her money.
...and then Tancredo dropped out of the race and endorsed Romney.
There must be something in the water in Hope, Arkansas, every major politician that comes from there is full of it.
“Republicans will do fine with McCain who stabbed us in the back on nearly every controversial issue in the last decade? Right.”
Kind of proves my point that I think a lot of opposition to Mitt is more rooting in envy about the qualities their candiates lack. I don’t believe the spin about Mitt’s shortcomings. He has dignity where they accuse him of being fake. Reagan had the same kind of dignity.
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