Posted on 12/22/2007 7:04:49 AM PST by Leisler
Mitt Romney continued to cite a 1967 book reference as proof his father marched for civil rights with Martin Luther King Jr. even as the author insisted he has no evidence to back up the claim.
“In 1963, George Romney did participate in Martin Luther King Jr.’s ‘Freedom Marches’ in Grosse Pointe,” said Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom yesterday, citing the book titled “The Republican Establishment: The Present and Future of the GOP.”
But Stephen Hess, a senior fellow of the Brookings Institution who wrote the book with Washington Post columnist David S. Broder, said the reference to Romney’s father, the late Michigan Gov. George Romney, marching with King was “meant totally symbolically.”
“The point we were making was that the issue of Mormonism had to do with its civil rights record. Did he walk with Martin Luther King? Today I have no idea,” Hess said.
The book, lacking footnotes and references, says in a chapter about George Romney, “He has marched with Martin Luther King through the exclusive Grosse Pointe suburb of Detroit and he is on record in support of full-coverage Federal open-housing legislation.”
But two members of the Grosse Pointe Historical Society said yesterday King never set foot in Grosse Pointe in 1963 and they woud have known if George Romney marched with him.
A member of the committee that invited King to appear at Grosse Pointe High School on March 14, 1968 - the only time historians say King appeared in the Detroit suburb - says George Romney wasn’t at the event and there was no “march” at that time.
“Dr. King was flown into Detroit and rushed into Grosse Pointe under heavy security, gave his address and then left very shortly thereafter,” said Russell Peebles, 88, who was a member of the Grosse Pointe school board’s Human Relations Committee, which invited King to speak. “George (Romney) was not in the audience. He certainly wasn’t on the stage.”
Romney claimed in his widely watched speech on religion earlier this month in College Station, Texas, and in a Sunday appearance on ‘Meet the Press’ that he “saw” his father march with the leader of the civil rights movement. In Iowa today, as his campaign tried to wriggle out of questions, Romney parsed definitions of the word “saw” and claimed his use of the term was “figurative.”
Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics called Romney’s parsing “Clintonian,” adding, “He just thought no one would ever check.”
You don’t contradict what I wrote, merely leave out part of it. What is it with you Mitt-hating-half-truthers?
Yes, MLK was at the June 23rd march. Accounts are divided as to whether Romney was. Romney definitely was at the June 29th march, accounts are divided over whether MLK was. That Romney supported MLK is beyond question. The eyewitnesses who place both men at the June 29th march carry more weight than the Grosse Pointe Historical Society dames who say only Romney was there. But either way, your dogmatic pronouncement exceeds what the evidence can support. Try to get it straight next time when you use a huge Font to condemn someone.
It certainly would have been the real story, if not for Mitt's odd compulsion to exaggerate the details.
Remind me again how this is any different from a Kerry supporter claiming the "real story" is that Kerry was a Vietnam vet - forget what the swiftboat vets are saying.
You’ve really hurt me. (Not)
You could say the George Romney was at the founding of the destruction of black America.
That’s just vile.
Mitt nor any other Republican in the foreseeable future will get more than 7%-12% of the black vote.
FRegards,
H-T
Now the truth comes out that George Romney really DID march with MLK in Grosse Pointe, with actual participants of the march giving their statements to the press and demanding apologies from those pundits who said it didn’t happen.
Now what then? It turns out Mitt Romney did NOT lie about that. However, he was loose with his words when he said he “saw” them march together, claiming he was speaking figuratively.
What exactly have Americans become when a particular politician needs to watch his every word to make sure nothing he says can ever come back to haunt him?
Which American politician has NEVER lied or stretched the truth or spoken figuratively? If ALL of them do it (for example, did Mike Huckabee REALLY stayed at the “Holiday Inn Express” that night?) why gang up on Romney for acting like all politicians?
Could it be because Americans hold him to a higher standard than all other politicians? If so, why?
It’s a good question to ask.
Could you link to them? I've seen this cited, but not seen the photos.
Yes, it saddens be greatly that we live in an age in which so many conceal their true motives with hypocracy and disengenuousness.
Those who prefer Thompson, Rudy, Huckabee or whomever, jump on any slam against Mitt just to help being him down.
This is a new form of PC cowardice.
See 107 above
You know how I can tell when Mitt is lying?
.....
.....
His mouth is moving....badda bing badda boom!
Man, these Romney threads are absolutely hysterical! lol
LOL...yep, that proves it!
There is a photo of the two. But it doesn’t put George with MLK on the June 23rd Freedom March because he wasn’t there.
And sad all at the same time.....
Wow, two separate arguments against the Romneys:
1. Mitt lied about his father marching with MLK - but now witnesses have turned up declaring they marched with them, the argument now becomes ...
2. It’s George Romney’s fault for marching with blacks for civil rights because most blacks are now Democrats and the welfare state is wrong.
Nice ...
That's what I thought. And no one's denying that the Romneys were involved in the civil rights movement. What's at issue is why Mitt feels the need to embellish their role, and what that reveals about his character.
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