[curiosity]

He changed his mind on abortion. That was a big change. The change on gays in the military is pretty insignificant. He supported the current policy then and now. The only change was where he saw policy heading in the future. Since 1994, the current policy has worked, so he very reasonably decided there was no point in changing it.

And that's about it. One big change and one small change don't a flip flopper make.

He never changed on gay marraige. Never changed on the so-called Assault Weapons Ban (he still supports it). I'm not thrilled about that position, but no one's perfect. Never changed on health care, and actually implemented a pretty good reform in his state. I don't know about the environment, but I'm not aware of any changes there.

As to legacies, I generally agree with you, except in Mitt's case it's different because he did not get to where he is today riding daddy's coattails. That's how GWB, Hillary, and even John Quincy got to where they were.

Not Mitt Romney. He never worked in his dad's company. Never used his dad's connections. Never inherited a penny from his dad. He got into HBS on his own merits, and got in on the ground floor at Bain Capital because of his own merits. That's a big difference.

[meandog]

He never worked in his dad's company. Never used his dad's connections. Never inherited a penny from his dad. He got into HBS on his own merits, and got in on the ground floor at Bain Capital because of his own merits. That's a big difference.

I'm not saying that Mitt isn't smart, he definitely is. But so is Billy Jeff Clinton... What bothers me is that they are so much alike, not so much in political philosopy, but in their political instincts in that they very much seem poll driven. Mitt didn't really say squat about immigration a year or two ago but, now that it is a big wedge issue, he's on it like one of my dogs on a T-bone. Although deserved, he took tawdry pot shots at Bush in saying "couldn't fire the coach so they fired the team" about last November's election results; yet he said nothing really about (real culprit) Rumsfeld and the other Bush advisers who engineered the debacle and he's really said little about the way our successful surge is working. I'll betcha a dime to a donut that he comes out with an new economic issue next week if the stock market continues to sink.
I like Duncan Hunter and his life story, I do not however like some of the foaming mouth far-right-wingers he attracts. Still, he's now my first choice.
My second choice is John McCain because, even though I don't like his immigration stance, at least I know what I'm getting. He hasn't been shy about what he believes--to the distain of many FReepers here. Plus, he like Hunter, is an absolute stalwart on winning a global war on terror which is and should be the No. 1 issue facing Americans come November 7, 2008.