Posted on 01/01/2008 2:30:26 AM PST by tiger-one
Mitt's flips: Why they matter
5 hours, 6 minutes ago
HAS Gov. Mitt Romney become more conservative in the past few years or has he shrewdly tacked to the right to get the Republican presidential nomination?
We don't know. What we do know is that Romney's record involves more than just switching from a few liberal positions to a few conservative ones. It represents wholesale conversions on issue after issue, sometimes back and forth, and with some false biographical statements thrown in.
Any candidate for office is allowed to change his mind. People learn new facts or have personal experiences that bring them to new understandings. Not every switch is an opportunistic flip-flop.
The reason Mitt Romney has drawn our scrutiny on this issue, and we are not alone, is not because he is the only candidate who has changed positions. He is not. It is because the totality of his record gives the distinct impression that most of his positions are subject to change when politically expedient.
Whenever Mitt Romney has run for office, his public positions on the issues of the day have been in general agreement with the voter base whose approval he was seeking.
In Massachusetts he was pro-choice, then pro-life, then pro-choice, then pro-life again. He was even more pro-gay rights than Ted Kennedy, for strict gun-control laws, for affirmative action, against the Boy Scouts' policy on homosexual scoutmasters, for what he now calls "amnesty" for illegal immigrants, and against the Bush tax cuts.
How can he have changed his mind on all of those issues and others so soon after deciding to run for the Republican presidential nomination?
In addition to his rightward shift, Gov. Romney's record includes some personal statements that make him appear less than completely candid about who he is and what he believes.
He claimed to have been a lifelong hunter. He wasn't. He claimed to have had the NRA's endorsement. He didn't. He claimed to have marched with Martin Luther King Jr. He didn't. These cannot be explained away as conversions.
We have found Romney's enthusiasm for conservative princples to be situational at best. And we are not alone. We have listened carefully to Republicans who knew Gov. Romney during his political rise in Massachusetts. They do not believe he is a far-left liberal. But they don't believe he's as conservative as he now claims, either.
At the end of the day, Republicans have to pick one candidate for President. Some judge Mitt Romney to be truly conservative. We do not. We think his record shows that while he is a Republican, he is not as conservative as Sen. John McCain.
Those who know him have told us that at his core, Gov. Romney is a decent man. We believe that. We just don't believe he is a man of solid political conviction. That is what most Republicans want, in a President. And that is why we picked John McCain over Mitt Romney.
Check my new thread
Mitt has said he would sign a new “assault weapon” ban. He is clearly in favor of gun control. That is all I need to know about Mitt Romney. Go Fred!
Would you mind telling me what sort of weapon you feel Mitt would try to take away from you that is legal now?
And who did the Union Leader endorse? A “real” conservative? Hardly.
Any of the so-called “assault weapons” that were banned under Clinton in 1994 and are no longer banned (except in a couple Stalinist states like NY). Do you need more details?
Great analysis, and thank you for pointing out Romney’s conservative record.
Did he make some pandering comments over the years? Yes.
But check his record as Mass Gov, and it is clear he consistently took good and decent conservative positions on almost everything.
These Romney haters on FR are embarassing, and I’m about as ultra conservative as one can get.
Is it true that not one male who ever voted on the 'morning after' pill ever was pregnant?
Notice how these Deranged Romney Bashers don't ever support THEIR candidate, even if they have one/
Are they embarassed, or is it like I surmise... that they simply suffer from Romney Derangement Syndrome?
I think its the latter.
And deny everything Romney says and does. Links to his own words coming out of his own mouth are posted on this thread, yet Mitt fans deny he said them.
This newspaper editorial isn't "facts."
It's just antedoctal statements, the opinion of one more newspaper muckraker who wouldn't recognize a good GOP candidate if he stomped thru their newsroom with the entire American Conservative Union staff right beside him.
Oops. The ACU DOES endorse Romney, and so does National Review.
===================================
Hey Mr Ultra! Most embarrassing of all is this sites owner:
Yup, downright embarrassing I tell you.
From what I read, most Mitt supporters agree he made some liberal pandering statements over the years.
But they were just that... statements, and if you check his record, you can see he governed Mass as a fairly conservative leader.
Which is especially heartening, when you consider how difficult it would have been in an 80-percent liberal state such as Massechusetts.
“”And that is why we picked John McCain over Mitt Romney””
Next.
What’s next? NYT’s editorials that you all dub as “facts.”
They have all become more conservative in name only.
Romney is NOTHING like a conservative. Romney,theDECLAREDrino, even said so.
Yeah, Mitty has assaulted gun owners. Why even go there?
And, don’t forget, when the AWB was due to expire in 2004 in MA, just like the federal AWB, the Mythster made it a permanent ban, not subject to federal law.
From the ACU website...
All candidate listings and responses are in alphabetical order. The American Conservative Union provides these responses for public information only. ACU neither endorses these candidates nor their responses.
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.