Mitt Romney's symbolic appeals to conservative Republicans. Tribal Warfare {FR mentioned]

The New Republic ^ | February 21, 2007 | Rick Perlstein

[Torie]

Mitt Romney is in trouble. In a deeply conservative party, the former governor of Massachusetts is a ghost of Republicanism past: a moderate. His presidential announcement speech read like a tribute to his father, [who was] liberal enough to get elected and reelected governor in a Democratic state, Michigan. ... "We have lost our faith in government--not in just one party, not in just one house, but in government," as if oblivious to the heresy: Rehabilitating government as a good in itself is not the usual way of introducing yourself to voters in today's post-Reagan Republican Party. Maybe Romney's tried to shake it, but he just can't: He carries progressive Republicanism around in his blood.

Which raises certain suspicions about that announcement speech. As the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) immediately observed, its location, the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, is a "testament to the life of ... a notorious anti-Semite and xenophobe." ...

Those memories no longer exist--except to the hair-trigger sensitivities of the likes of the NJDC, which put out their press release and garnered an AP article on the flap. But here's something to consider: The Romney campaign has harvested benefits from that flap, whether it was intentional or not. Consider the sarcastic reflection of this denizen of the right-wing website Free Republic:

Allright, an AP hit piece! The MSM has more acute RINOdar than we. Real RINO's don't get rinky-dink MSM hit pieces such as this. This proves that the MSM believes Romney is a conservative, and therefore must be roughed up.

Translation: I used to suspect that Romney was only a "Republican in Name Only." But now I realize: He bugs the liberal media. By the tribal logic of right-wing identity politics, that is enough--Mitt Romney now can be called a conservative.

...

[EternalVigilance]

heck he even has problems with embryonic stem cells now

He still supports the destruction of embryos, as long as they aren't "cloned."

[mkjessup]

The guy [Romney] is stellar in that regard. It doesn't matter what you think of his social views.

As long as he makes the trains run on time, eh?

[EternalVigilance]

Have you watched the video?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_w9pquznG4

Listen, this was only four short years ago...followed by an administration that governed left. No politician with such a recent record of liberal "accomplishment" should get a pass because he's suddenly learned some small bit of the language of conservatism, and has the audacity to spout it even though he's never believed it or practiced it.

[mkjessup]

Uh uh, not a chance.

Giuliani/Clinton/Dem vs. GOP Platform Comparison
Issue	Giuliani	Clinton	Dem Platform	GOP Platform
Abortion on Demand	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Partial Birth Abortion	Supports Opposed NY ban	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Roe v. Wade	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Taxpayer Funded Abortions	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Embryonic Stem Cell Research	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Federal Marriage Amendment	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes Defined at state level	Supports
Gay Domestic Partnership/ Civil Unions	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Openly Gay Military	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Defense of Marriage Act	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes	Supports
Amnesty for Illegal Aliens	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Special Path to Citizenship for Illegal Aliens	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Tough Penalties for Employers of Illegal Aliens	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes	Supports
Sanctuary Cities/ Ignoring Immigration Law	Supports	Supports	Supports	Opposes
Protecting 2nd Amendment	Opposes	Opposes	Opposes Supports bans	Supports
Confiscating Guns	Supports Confiscated as mayor. Even bragged.	Supports	Supports Supports bans	Opposes
'Assault' Weapons Ban	Supports	Supports	Supports
Frivolous Lawsuits Against Gun Makers	Supports Filed One Himself	Supports		Opposes
Gun Registration/Licenses	Supports	Supports		Opposes
War in Afghanistan	Supports	Supports Voted for it	Supports	Supports
War in Iraq	Supports	Supports Voted for it	Supports Weak support	Supports
Patriot Act	Supports	Supports Voted for it 2001 & 2006	Opposes	Supports

"Most of Clinton's policies are very similar to most of mine." - Rudy Giuliani

[Mount Athos]

I haven't seen this many comments deleted since the Harriet Miers and Dubai port controversy days

[Torie]

I watched, and think Mitt is totally disingenuous in his "witness" of his epiphany. I don't believe a word of it. But then I am a "liberal" so who cares what I believe.

[Torie]

I should add, I watched it about 3 weeks ago.

[Torie]

It is a little complicated. One poster and another poster are not getting along.

[TAdams8591]

That video was five years ago EV and Romney has changed his views on abortion and now states a pro-life position.

What is your evidence James Bopp, current and chief attorney for National Right to Life since 1978, is a Benedict Arnold?

[Mount Athos]

Nice chart, could I have a link to that?
Could use it

[EternalVigilance]

I watched, and think Mitt is totally disingenuous in his "witness" of his epiphany. I don't believe a word of it.

Me neither.

But then I am a "liberal" so who cares what I believe.

I must, since I just agreed with you.

You didn't used to be sensitive about the label. In fact, I seem to remember that that's what you called yourself.

[George W. Bush]

Torie is FR's most notorious liberal poster.

We've all been around for a while here at FR. For quite a while, Torie & I did battle on a few threads.

I don't think Torie is FR's most notorious liberal poster. I could name others that I think are more liberal. Certainly, some of the newer posters we've seen have no idea just how liberal they really are.

Torie is not a hard-Right person. But she at least understands the fundamental Republican and conservative positions, even where she doesn't agree. At the least, her world view encompasses conservative thought, even if she has some differences.

An example of a liberal who doesn't know how liberal they really are is Giuliani. He goes to California, praise Ahnold as a "progressive leader" (take anti-nausea medication now), and proceeds to say Al Gore didn't go far enough with his global hotting (holding head, screaming quietly "Make it stop!").

Giuliani is just tone-deaf to conservative sensibilities. Torie isn't.

[It must be a tough day at FR if I discover myself forced to say semi-nice things about Torie.]

[Torie]

Except on certain specific positions, you will never find one post out of the 25,000 that I have made, where I said I was a liberal overall, except maybe in jest to you, but I doubt even that. I have copped to being a "RINO" however. As defined by those that used the epithet, it seemed that that was what I was. But to suggest that I am a liberal, and fungible with the leading Dem candidates for Prez at the moment for example, is simply ludicrous, totally and ineluctably and obviously ludicrous. You should know better, and I suspect do.

[Torie]

I am a he, but that is a most generous post you made. You seem to be mellowing out a bit. :) Thanks again.

[EternalVigilance]

That video was five years ago EV and Romney has changed his views on abortion and now states a pro-life position.

It was less than five years ago, (see how even you are having to fudge the truth for him?) and it was followed by an administration that governed hard left: gay marriage implemented, socialized medicine implemented, assault weapons ban implemented, democrats appointed to the bench and executive offices, gay activists appointed to the courts and executive offices, homosexual propaganda permeating the executive branch and the public schools, gay adoptions, etc., etc., etc.

He just left office, TAdams, in case you forgot. This is not old news.

What is your evidence James Bopp, current and chief attorney for National Right to Life since 1978, is a Benedict Arnold?

It's his support for Mr. "I supported abortion since before Roe" Romney.

[George W. Bush]

I just get a little irritated at how quickly some people write these candidates off because their views changed on an issue at some point in their life. Particularly someone who has been as fiscally conservative and talented as Romney (yet he gets written off as a RINO constantly).

I don't get how balanced budgets and being pro-business and building up successful companies is so overlooked.

I still think that smaller government, balanced budgets and being pro-business is part of the Reagan/Gingrich agenda, something that so many of us believed in.

One of the reasons we lost in '06 was because we had become the party of big government. Voters couldn't see enough difference between big-government liberals and big-government conservatives.

[EternalVigilance]

http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/10-02/10-03-02/a03sr021.htm

O'Brien, Romney tout abortion rights credentials

By JOHN McELHENNY, Associated Press writer
10/3/02

BOSTON -- Gubernatorial candidates Shannon O'Brien and Mitt Romney sparred yesterday over who was the strongest abortion rights supporter by touting endorsements from abortion rights groups and challenging each other's records on the issue.

O'Brien, the Democratic state treasurer, was endorsed by Massachusetts NARAL, an abortion rights group, and Planned Parenthood.

Evoking the name of Shannon Lowney, one of two women killed by John Salvi at a Brookline Planned Parenthood clinic in 1994, O'Brien said support for abortion rights is as important as ever.

"I think of the fact that there are people out there who would deprive people of that right to choose," O'Brien said. "It is not something that we can take for granted."

Romney, a Republican and the former Winter Olympics chief, was endorsed by the New York-based Republican Pro-Choice Coalition. He mentioned his mother, Lenore Romney, who favored abortion rights when she ran for the U.S. Senate in 1970, even before the 1973 Roe v. Wade case affirmed women's constitutional right to abortions.

O'Brien and Romney both say that if elected they'll uphold state and federal laws protecting abortion rights.

"There isn't a dime of difference between Mitt Romney's position on choice and Shannon O'Brien," said Kerry Healey, Romney's running mate.

Lynn Grefe, director of the Republican Pro-Choice Coalition, applauded Romney's "commitment to family planning and protecting a woman's right to choose" in a letter on Wednesday.

[NRA2BFree]

This proves that the MSM believes Romney is a conservative, and therefore must be roughed up.

NO! What it proves is that he's a Republican! BIG difference!

[NRA2BFree]

I think Romney would be a great president, not only because of his positions, but because of his leadership and management skills.

"His positions?" LOL! What positions? He's a RINO!!!

[editor-surveyor]

"Public Position?"


Actions speak louder than words...