Warnings are written like a billboard all over Mitt Romney. He has used his fortune to buy the most transparently shameless act of political plastic surgery I've ever seen. His blatant flip flops on a laundry list of key issues are pure calculation to win conservative votes. His loose regard for truth puts him in league with Bill and Hillary Clinton.
To measure Mitt Romney's allegiance to our party, look no further than the words of top Massachusetts Republicans who have seen him in operation over four years.
Former Massachusetts Governor Paul Cellucci, former State Treasurer Joe Malone, former state GOP Chair Jim Rappaport, and three of Massachusetts' five Republican State Senators all oppose Mitt Romney (and support Rudy Giuliani). "I think a lot of people in the state definitely feel abandoned," said senate Republican leader Richard Tisei. "Governor Romney spent three of the four years of his governorship out of state running for president."
In 2006 Massachusetts Republicans did not even run candidates in 130 of 200 legislative seats and in 7 of 10 congressional districts. The Green-Rainbow Party put up more candidates for statewide office than Republicans. "The Massachusetts Republican Party died last Tuesday [November, 2006] ... In lieu of flowers, send messages to New Hampshire Republican voters warning them about a certain presidential candidate named Romney," editorialized the Boston Herald.
Consider the timing of Mitt Romney's flips: are they evidence of late-blooming enlightenment or political calculation?
Illegal Immigration. In a November 30, 2005 interview with the Boston Globe, Mitt Romney called the elements of McCain-Kennedy immigration bill "reasonable proposals." By March, 2007, finger to the wind, Mitt Romney was roundly denouncing the same bill.
Casino gambling. Campaigning for governor in 2002, Mitt Romney indicated his support for slots casinos in Massachusetts. He flipped on September 16, 2005, when Iowa conservatives threatened to boycott his campaign fundraisers.
Abortion. In his 2002 governor's race, Mitt Romney's platform stated, "The choice to have an abortion is a deeply personal one. Women should be free to choose based on their own beliefs, not the government's." In a July 26, 2005 Boston Globe op ed, Mitt Romney wrote, "I am pro-life. I believe that abortion is the wrong choice except in cases of incest, rape, and to save the life of the mother. ... I believe that the states ... should determine their own abortion laws."
Gay and lesbian issues. "We must make equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern," Romney wrote in 1994. Romney promised to outdo Ted Kennedy by winning "full equality" for gays and lesbians, by opposing a federal constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, and by advocating gays serving openly in the military. During his 2002 campaign for governor, Mitt Romney distributed flyers at a gay pride parade reaffirming his support. Then, on December 14, 2006, Mitt Romney announced his flip on gay issues in an interview with the National Review.
Global warming. On November 7, 2005, Governor Romney touted the thirty months and half million dollars his administration had spent shaping the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which will reduce global warming gas pollution by ten percent by 2019. "I'm convinced it is good business," said Romney. On December 14, 2005, one hour before clearing the way for his presidential ambitions by announcing that he would not run again for governor, Mitt Romney abruptly pulled Massachusetts out of the agreement, saying it would be bad for business.
Health care mandate. In 2005 Governor Romney proposed and in 2006 signed into law an under-funded universal health care plan, including a mandate that all individuals lacking it buy health insurance, substantially similar to Hillary Clinton's proposed plan. On the stump in 2007, Mitt Romney reversed and now opposes his own plan and its central feature, the insurance mandate.
Republicans willing to grant Mitt Romney a full pass on his litany of flips may be more disturbed by his slick treatment of the truth. For example: "I've been a hunter pretty much all my life," Mitt Romney told a gun rights activist in Keene in April. It turns out Mitt Romney has hunted only twice in his life, once when he was 15 and again at 60.
Likewise earlier this year, Mitt Romney said, "I have a gun of my own." When questioned two days later, he admitted that, while his son owned a gun, he did not.
And finally, "My father and I marched with Martin Luther King Jr. through the streets of Detroit," Mitt Romney told the Boston Herald in 1978. The story was adjusted as of December, 2007, when he said that he "saw" his father march with MLK. Both claims are false. In attempting to explain his way out, Mitt Romney turns ominously Clintonian: "If you look at the literature, if you look at the dictionary, the term 'saw' includes being aware of in the sense I've described."
It is impossible to determine what Mitt Romney believes. He cannot be trusted to stick with his promises or positions on the major issues. If Republicans allow Mitt Romney to win on January 8, we will have abjectly failed our single most persuasive claim to the first primary: that we are scrupulous in uncovering the real candidate and that we cannot be fooled.
The following piece is published in the Union Leader as well as HuffPost's OffTheBus.
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Mitt Romney is as phony as a four dollar bill, I would vote for Clinton before I vote for Romney. If Romney is the nominee then the Republicans can punt this election.
The entire GOP slate ought to induce nausea in NH GOPers. If anything, Romney is the lesser of many evils: you know exactly what you'll be getting if you vote for Giuliani, Huckabee, McCain or Paul. At least with Romney you can hope that even he doesn't believe in the nonsense that he says---the other candidates clearly *do* believe in their horrible rhetoric.
This slate couldn't have happened to a nice party!
Willard serves as a warning from the corporatists who have benefitted most from the present regime: yes, Virginia (and California and Maine), it can get worse. MUCH worse.
If Romney is somehow successfully installed in the White House, in four years' time we'll be looking at countries like Myanmar as oases of openness and transparency by comparison. If that image doesn't slap you in the face...
juangualt, Thank you for showing your religious bigotry. Substitute Jew for Mormon in your comment and you would be denounced but Mormon bashing is allowed. I am not Mormon but have many wonderful friends and some relatives who are. They are all good people. Romney has issues but what about Hillary's flipflopping on illegals getting drivers licenses. All politicians have changing positions but I hope we can refrain from religious hatred.
It's not as if we need still another liar in Washington D.C. Which reminds me of a riddle I heard the other day. How do you tell the difference bewteen a liar and a lawyer? The answer to the riddle was there is no difference.
There is another blog today on the Huff Post re: Joe Biden. Compare Willard to Joe. It's like 180 degrees difference, but I've been wondering about Slick Willard's reality for a long time compared to practically any of the candidates. He flops around more than a salmon on the deck of a fishing boat. You couldn't even want to have a beer with him 'cause it's against his religion (which I don't really care much about, and anyway I don't drink), but I think having lunch with him wouldn't be so good either. I can't really even imagine what it would be like. I've spent a fair amount of time on vacation in New Hampshire-great place-and I don't think we'll have to worry about the natives votig for Mitt. They just have too much respect for reality.
What repulses me is someone who can still be a Republican after the crimes that the Republican president and the Republican congress has perpetrated upon the planet. It literally makes me want to vomit. Republicans deserve Willard as their nominee. At least he lies without smirking.
There is not even a thin layer of genuineness in Romney"s public persona and that"s what makes him insidious. The only glimpse we"ve had to what really lives inside that mannequin is when he strapped his dog to the roof of his car for a roadtrip. That was real.
He scares the crap out me.
Teflon Bill and a sexual boo boo? Hillary and we need change? we have heard too much of this, and Mitt changing his mind and supporting what ever the situation warrants? The Royalty of Washington portray them selves as out of touch with the working class! When the voters of America awaken from their "don't want to get involved dream" and vote for real change no not the thing HRC wants but real change, where more than just the names are changed. But, with every candidate saying the same thing its hard to pick a winner for the people and not another loser who wants to get rich and forget the promises they don't intend to keep anyway. Mitt take the silver spoon out of your mouth when you insert your foot.
I like the article's "outing" of Romney's flip-flops, but why does Mr. Rubens find it necessary to drag the Clintons into the ugly picture? Sure, Bill lied about his sexual boo boo, and I'm sure any republican, including Mr. Rubens would have done the same. The ultimate comparison of diehard liars that would have really driven his point would have been with GWB!
When I heard that Romney said that one must look in the literature and in the dictionary to understand what "saw" means, I could think of only one thing: "It depends on what your definition of "is" is."
Hey, he might be a good president, since he has no real convictions, he has no problem changing his mind on anything, and he's so slick he can oil his way out of any problem.
Oh, wait a minute - that stuff only makes for a good *lawyer*...
I am repulsed. I a neither a New Hampshire resident or a New Hampshire Republican.
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Posted December 27, 2007 | 04:04 PM (EST)