Posted on 01/24/2008 9:26:48 AM PST by Ol' Sparky
AS FORMER Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney declared his Presidential candidacy, he could not have been more telegenic. With his angular jaw and slicked-back, dark hair, Romney is the GOP's George Clooney. Who needs the White House? Romney should become a movie star. He already is a highly skilled actor.
Romney is either a rock-ribbed conservative who played a Rockefeller Republican to get elected in Massachusetts, or a limousine liberal portraying a conservative to win the 2008 GOP nomination.
This fine thespian has lost himself so thoroughly in both these roles that no one really knows where the performer ends and the characters begin.
Studying Romney's lines only muddles things. His present and past statements on abortion, gays, guns, taxes and Ronald Reagan each conflict diametrically.
Just listen to today's Romney on abortion:
"I am pro-life," Romney wrote in a July 2005 Boston Globe op-ed. "I believe that abortion is the wrong choice except in cases of incest, rape, and to save the life of the mother."
He declared last year: "Roe v. Wade does not serve the country well and is another example of judges making the law instead of interpreting the Constitution."
But yesteryear's Romney could not have disagreed more.
"Let me make this very clear," Romney said in October 2002. "I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose."
"Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years," he said in 1994. "We should sustain and support it."
Today's Romney may be America's most outspoken voice against gay marriage.
"In order to protect the institution of marriage, we must prevent it from being redefined by judges like those here in Massachusetts," Romney wrote last June, endorsing a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. "From Day One, I have opposed the move for same-sex marriage," Romney said in February 2005.
But yesteryear's Romney aimed to please gay voters, perhaps even more than could his Democratic opponents.
As the Boston Globe reported in October 1994, Romney wrote the gay Log Cabin Republicans, "As we seek to establish full equality" for gays, "I will provide more effective leadership than my opponent," Democrat Ted Kennedy, whose Senate seat he sought.
Romney also told Boston's gay newspaper, Bay Windows: "The authorization of marriage on a same-sex basis falls under state jurisdiction."
And then:
"I have a gun of my own," today's Romney said last month. "I'm a member of the (National Rifle Association) and believe firmly in the right to bear arms."
Yesteryear's Romney, however, was quite gun-shy.
"We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts," Romney said in 2002. "I support them. I won't chip away at them." In fact, Romney signed America's first state-level assault-weapons ban.
Yesteryear's Romney backed the federal assault-weapons ban and the Brady Bill. "That's not going to make me the hero of the NRA," Romney said in 1994. However, he added: "I don't line up with the NRA."
Today's Romney signed Americans for Tax Reform's Taxpayer Protection Pledge and said on Feb. 7 that it was "absolutely critical" to "make the tax cuts permanent," referring to President Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax reductions.
But yesteryear's Romney smiled more on taxes.
In an April 2003 meeting with the Massachusetts congressional delegation in Washington, Romney failed to endorse President Bush's $726 billion tax-cut proposal.
As Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., told the Boston Globe after the powwow: "Here you have a freshman governor refusing to endorse a tax cut presented by a Republican President at the height of his wartime popularity." As for the anti-tax pledge, a Romney spokesman dismissed it as "government by gimmickry."
Today's Romney speaks glowingly of America's 40th President.
"Ronald Reagan is...my hero," Romney said in 2005, as the Boston Globe's Scot Lehigh recalled on Jan. 19. "I believe that our party's ascendancy began with Ronald Reagan's brand of visionary and courageous leadership."
But yesteryear's Romney said in his 1994 debate with Kennedy: "I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush. I'm not trying to return to Reagan-Bush."
Mitt Romney should warm up to Reagan. After all, Ronald Reagan made it big by moving from acting into politics. Mitt Romney's best bet for fame and fortune may be to make that same journey -- in reverse.
A lot of people changed their minds back when Roe v. Wade was imposed on our country. Before that, they really hadn’t thought about abortion.
The Catholic bishops for the most part were slow to respond. The first pro-lifers were Catholic lay people.
Evangelicals also took a number of years to think about it, before they came out on the pro-life side.
So Reagan’s development makes sense. Romney’s doesn’t. He was claiming to be pro abortion when everyone in the country KNEW what abortion was all about. And he did so AGAINST the teachings of the LDS. And some of his pro-gay activities and statements are quite recent.
I believe in conversions stories, but this one is pretty hard to believe in, unfortunately. I wouldn’t really care, except that I’m afraid that if push comes to shove he wouldn’t hestitate to convert again.
LCR’s have been running anti-Romney ads on WRKO for a while. They think he didn’t do enough for them on Gay Marriage. The Minority Leader in the Senate, Sen. Richard Tisei also a LCR has removed “Traditional Values” from the MASSGOP platform.
Its the latter.
Romney was for abortion, before he was against it.
Romney was for gun control, before he joined the NRA in 2007.
Romney was for comprehensive immigration reform, before he was against it.
Romney was for gay rights, before he was against it.
Romney has no conviction. He's a phony.
I know he is good on gun rights and defense, and will take on our enemies. I also know he is very fond of space exploration.
Not real sure about his economic policies and we may have an issue with his "Pro Life" stance, since he has been trying to "Demodulate" the Earth for years, but he could be our man...
I mean Martian...
Do you know how John Gotti and Mitt Romney differ?
...
....
.....
Gotti has at least ONE conviction!
Pimping for McCain in NH.
The NRA is too politically savvy for that. They will wait until it is the right time to maximize their influence. It could be either Mitt or (yes) Rudy. They want the political clout AFTER the election!
Gotti's dead.
Yosemite Sam always seemed more conservative.
Clinton’s talking points?
I wonder if the LDS Church has baptized him posthumously.
True. Not sure how they can have too much clout in a Dem Congress with a gungrabber POTUS. Only if “Mitt or Rudy” managed to get another good guy on the Supreme Court would they see any benefit. I’m not real hopeful here. I think the Republicans are going to get blown away in November.
Well that leaves off McCainiac and the Huckster.
President Reagan was quite clear when he said he was not an actor and he said he had 30 movies to prove it.
Mitt Romney is adamant that the LDS is not pro-life.
Whatever that means.
You should have no problem reaching your goal with the daily anti-Mitt stories coming out of the MSM. Then it is on to the MSM anti-Romney platinum medal.
Yeah, but I worry about his temper, kind of like McCain.
Of course Bugs made Marvin “very, very angry” a few times so...
“Romney is either a rock-ribbed conservative who played a Rockefeller Republican to get elected in Massachusetts, or a limousine liberal portraying a conservative to win the 2008 GOP nomination.”
That may be the best line to describe Romney I’ve read. That sums it up. Its one or the other. And neither really makes one feel better about him, though if its the first part, at least he might be an ends justifys the means guy in the long run. But I don’t have to like it.
Still, I’ll vote for a corpse over HRC.
don’t forget the fact that they were both Liberals before they were elected President!
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