Posted on 01/07/2008 6:18:49 AM PST by xzins
Is Mitt Romney Conservative?
by Gary Glenn Chairman, Campaign for Michigan Families
The Washington, D.C. conservative weekly Human Events last year listed Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in its Top Ten list of RINOs (Republicans in Name Only), ranking him at number 8 in the nation with the following entry:
"Has said, ’I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country.’ Supports (homosexual) civil unions and stringent gun laws. After visiting Houston, he criticized the city’s aesthetics, saying, ’This is what happens when you don’t have zoning.’" (Human Events)
Romney should have ranked even higher on the list of RINOs. He famously likes to tell conservative audiences in Iowa and South Carolina that being a conservative Republican in Massachusetts is like being a cattle rancher at a vegetarian convention.
I attended last fall’s GOP conference in Michigan, where Romney continued his masquerade as a "conservative," even daring to tell the assembled activists: "I am pro-life" -- knowing full well that he does not mean by that term what those listening would think he meant.
Romney’s ten-year political career has occurred from his late 40s to his late 50s, yet he asks pro-family conservatives to naively believe that he’s just now figuring out his core beliefs.
During that decade, he has insistently supported legal abortion-on-demand. In a televised 1994 campaign debate, Romney said: "I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country. I have since the time when my Mom took that position when she ran in 1970 as a U.S. Senate candidate. I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years that we should sustain and support it, and I sustain and support that law and the right of a woman to make that choice. ...Since that time, my mother and my family have been committed to the belief that we can believe as we want, but we will not force our beliefs on others on that matter, and you will not see my wavering on that." (Boston Globe)
His 2002 gubernatorial campaign web site stated: "As Governor, Mitt Romney would protect the current pro-choice status quo in Massachusetts. No law would change. The choice to have an abortion is a deeply personal one. Women should be free to choose based on their own beliefs, not the government’s." (Archive)
Romney’s response to the National Abortion Rights Action League’s 2002 candidate survery: ’’I respect and will protect a woman’s right to choose. This choice is a deeply personal one. Women should be free to choose based on their own beliefs, not mine and not the government’s. The truth is, no candidate in the governor’s race in either party would deny women abortion rights." (Notably, Romney refused to answer Massachusetts Citizens for Life’s candidate questionnaire.) (Boston Globe)
Not surprisingly, Romney’s clearly stated support for Roe and "a woman’s right to choose" -- i.e., abortion on demand -- earned him the endorsement of the pro-abortion Republican Majority for Choice PAC.
He was also endorsed, twice, by the homosexual "Log Cabin Republicans," the same group that in 2004 spent $1 million attacking President Bush for his support of a Marriage Protection Amendment.
Romney believes the Boy Scouts should allow openly homosexual Scoutmasters: "I feel that all people should be allowed to participate in the Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation." (Web today)
He endorses Ted Kennedy’s federal "gay rights" legislation. He endorses taxpayer-financed same-sex benefits for the homosexual partners of state employees, and even attacked some Democratic legislators for not supporting such government benefits.
According to the Associated Press, he has appointed at least two openly homosexual lawyers to state judgeships, one a board member of the Lesbian & Gay Bar Association. Imagine how that will fly in Republican presidential primaries in the South, the prospect of a president with a record of appointing homosexual activists to the bench. (See copy of gubernatorial news release below.)
In 2002, before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court legalized so-called homosexual "marriage," Romney denounced a preemptive state Marriage Protection Amendment prohibiting homosexual "marriage," civil unions, or same-sex public employee benefits as "too extreme," even after being advised by the media that his own wife and son had just signed a petition to place it on the ballot. (Boston Phoenix)
Now, as he postures to run for president, Romney travels to Iowa and Michigan and South Carolina to claim he’s "pro-life" and brag about fighting homosexual "marriage," saying that at age 59, his position on such issues has "evolved."
(No flip-flop so far, however, on his stated support for homosexual Scoutmasters, forcing taxpayers to fund spousal benefits for the "partners" of state employees involved in homosexual relationships, or Kennedy’s federal "gay rights" legislation.)
Regardless, most pro-family voters don’t believe in the theory of evolution -- including as it applies to politicians, and especially when the alleged "evolution" seems so conveniently timed to produce political benefit.
Gov. Romney can tell all the cattle-rancher-at-a-vegetarian-convention jokes he wants about Massachusetts. But they’re going to fall flat when social conservatives learn -- and they will -- that his long-term record on abortion and elements of homosexual activists’ political agenda has been that of Vegetarian in Chief.
See #38
Exactly, not under my support (I’ll vote Constitutionalist first)!
Should we award points to a chameleon simply because he changes colors to mask what he really is?
He's not a convert to anything. He will say whatever it takes to get elected. He has no political compass. He is driven only by ambition.
Romney gets a 0 on everything.
Did you see my matrix the other day?
Just 2 points when ni am not american but an european(french) “conservative”.
1/Illegal alliens FROM CUBA and NICARAGUA in 1997 were not the same illegal aliens you have today...Seems that Fred was right on that point
2/About the right for abortion.As christian myself(catholic education)i don’t think one can completly ban abortion shamefully.The first big job would be on education and the fight against moral relativism...
So much for that Log Cabin endorsement.
There are no such things as "narrow minded" conservatives (fake ones) and "sensible intelligent" conservatives (the true one). There are only conservatives, semi-conservatives, non-conservatives.
I assume by your term "sensible intelligent conservatives" you would lump yourself in that category - no comment.
There are may others that are attempting to hijack the term "conservative" and as in pc America, that is done everywhere.
The so-called "sensible intelligent" conservatives are also called "pragmatic" and mean "since we can't get the votes on conservative ideas, let's split the difference with liberals.
That, my friend is NOT conservative, that is cowardice in the face of the enemy -- and liberalism is the enemy, make no mistake here.
Liberals are out to destroy the U.S., one election at a time!
Out of the bunch, Thompson's record is NOT conservative but does come much closer than the ones on stage last night and Sunday night, since Duncan Hunter was disallowed (why should any candidate be silenced - unless the media doesn't want the American electorate to learn of them and their ideas.
Thompson's own record in the U.S. Senate was NOT conservative but was MORE conservative than John McCain, who is a pro-life, pro-military (sometimes) LIBERAL!
You may speek of "sensible" and "intelligent" as others speak of "pragmatic" but these are code words for giving liberals half of what they want. They love it because today it's half, tomorrow the other half or at least one-third, and before long - it's the whole thing.
Why do you think that they have small splinter groups called "Baby Steps?" Those groups work to attain liberalism one bite at a time.
Sorry to completely disagree with you here in this friendly forum.
It would appear that you have chosen your candidate and regardless of the facts, prefer to call him a "conservative" - more conservative than others in front of the cameras, yes but has voted with liberals on McCain Feingold and not toally against illegal alien hires by corporationos.
Answer: Yes.
You can be born in another country and still an American citizen if both parents are American citizens. As in the case of Army brats, for example.
Delusions strike deep.
His parents were not US Citizens. His grandparents had emigrated to Mexico due to polygamy issues .
Correction: His parents were not US Citizens. His GREATgrandparents had emigrated to Mexico due to polygamy issues .
Gays serve in the military. I hope that doesn’t make your head explode. The official policy of the military, which is supported by conservative stalwarts such as Duncan Hunter, is that gays can serve in the military so long as they keep quiet about it.
I agree with you. That’s why I sent Fred some money yesterday.
:>)
There is no “boy scout” thing, except that Mitt Romney actively supports the Boy Scouts, and even volunteered as an executive leader on the national board.
The Mormon church is very positively involved and supportive of Boy Scouts, with people like J.W. Marriot providing a lot of money and other support.
Mitt even in 1994 was fully supportive of the Boy scouts being allowed to make their own rules without government interference.
Thanks. That’s the link that shows Romney supporting the Boy Scout’s right to exclude gays from leadership.
And which never mentions scoutmasters.
I'd be happier w/Thompson than the rest of that bunch of "moderate/liberals" but he'd not be a candidate for whom I'd gladly donate lots of money to nor go door to door to get elected, but who knows, I may fool myself and at least walk door to door for Pubbies again.
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.