McCain discusses Romney’s position on immigration:
Maybe I should wait a of couple weeks and see if it changes. Maybe he can get out his small varmint gun and drive those Guatemalans off his yard.
McCain refers to Romney’s general flip-floppery, Romney’s gun gaffes, and the illegals who take care of Romney’s yard.
Tags: Immigration, Live blogging, McCain, Mitt Flop, Romney
I had hope he believed something. I guess not…
Tags: Immigration, Mitt Flop, Romney
During the debate, Mitt Romney was asked:
MR. WALLACE: Governor Romney, during this campaign, you have been criticized — and again tonight you’ve been criticized — for changing your position on some issues. You say that it’s a part of learning from experience. Can you point to an area in which your learning from experience led you to change to a position that is less popular with the Republican base?
Romney answered, "No Child Left Behind":
MR. ROMNEY: Sure, a number — quite a few, actually.
And as Senator McCain did, as he mentioned the flag issue — I have issues that take me in the same direction. One is No Child Left Behind. I’ve taken a position where, once upon a time, I said I wanted to eliminate the Department of Education. That was my position when I ran for Senate in 1994. That’s very popular with the base.
Pew points out that 67% of Republicans approve of NCLB!
However, Pew polling shows that Romney’s new position may be more in tune with the GOP base than was his previous one: Fully 67% of Republicans support the president’s handling of education.
Now, I am sure that Romney has seen polling on this… (I’m just having fun here. Check out the rest of the Pew poll)
Tags: Education, Mitt Flop, Republicans, Romney
In the recent Time Magazine story on Mitt Romney:
The closest he has ever come to a personal religious crisis, he recalls, was when he was in college and considering whether to go off on a mission, as his grandfather, father and brother had done. Mitt was deeply in love with Ann, his high school sweetheart and future wife, and couldn’t bear to spend more than two years away from her. He says he also felt guilty about the draft deferment he would get for it, when other young men his age were heading for Vietnam.
Of course and as usual, that’s not what he used to say. Ryan Sager dug up a Boston Herald story from 1994:
Romney, however, acknowledged he did not have any desire to serve in the military during his college and missionary days, especially after he married and became a father. ‘I was not planning on signing up for the military,’ he said. ‘It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam, but nor did I take any actions to remove myself from the pool of young men who were eligible for the draft. If drafted, I would have been happy to serve, and if I didn’t get drafted I was happy to be with my wife and new child.
A spiritual crisis about something he didn’t care about. That’s not plausible. It is not serious. And it is further proof that Romney isn’t either.
Mitt Romney is doing himself no favors these days. Whether it is his lifetime hunter gaffe, his confusing French marriage law for fictionalizations of the Book of Mormon, or calling a ridiculous sci-fi book his favorite novel, he can’t keep his foot — in a silver space boot? — out of his mouth.
So Romney goes on the offensive, not against the foot in his mouth, but against the press:
"What I find interesting is, had I been pro-life and then changed to pro-choice, no one would ask the question," the former Massachusetts governor said on Fox News Channel’s "Hannity and Colmes." ”But if you go the other direction, as I have and as Ronald Reagan did and (former Illinois Rep.) Henry Hyde and (former President) George Herbert Walker Bush, it’s like the media can’t get enough of it: ’Oh, well, why did you change?’"
Did Romney even notice the question that Chris Matthews asked at the debate:
Governor Romney, in recent months, you’ve said you were, quote, "always for life," but we’ve also heard you say you were once, quote, "effectively pro-choice." Which is it?
This isn’t about the press. This is about what comes out of his mouth. And it looks ridiculous when he panders and spins and sticks his foot in his mouth. This could well kill his presidential campaign, like it killed his father’s. Another case of Romney emulating his father:
Romney was asked which president he would emulate should he be elected in 2008.
"Probably my dad. I loved my dad. And he’s my hero," Romney said.
His wife, Ann, who was sitting beside him, interrupted and said, "Isn’t he asking you to pick a president?"
Mitt Romney tried to dodge a question on embryonic stem-cell research, but Chris Matthews asked the tough questions. Again, Mitt flopped. Last night he said:
MODERATOR: And you won’t take any from these fertility clinics to use either?
ROMNEY: I’m happy to allow that to — or I shouldn’t say happy.It’s fine for that to be allowed, to be legal. I won’t use our government funds for that. Instead, I want our governments to be used on Dr. Hurlbut’s method, which is altered nuclear transfer.
However, he wrote in the Boston Globe (see my previous post), when he vetoed a stem-cell bill:
Some stem cells today are obtained from surplus embryos from in-vitro fertilization. I support that research, provided that those embryos are obtained after a rigorous parental consent process … Known as altered nuclear transfer, this method could allow researchers to obtain embryonic stem cells without the moral shortcut of cloning and destroying a human embryo.
A bill that includes methods such as these and bans all human cloning would receive my full support.
In other words, he said he would fund IVF leftover research. Now he won’t.
Tags: Debate, Life, Mitt Flop, Romney, Social conservatives
I was going to write on this but Deal Hudson beat me to it, and more articulately. Romney’s record:
As governor of Massachusetts, Romney ordered Catholic hospitals to administer emergency contraception to women who claim they had been raped.
Romney’s words last night:
I don’t say anything to Roman Catholic bishops. They can do whatever the heck they want. Roman Catholic bishops are in a private institution, a religion, and they can do whatever they want in a religion.
Whatever they want but follow their conscience….
What changed? Of course, Mitt Romney’s relationship to his religion is, unfairly, being scrutinized. So he changes positions.
Mitt Romney. Everything blows in the wind but his hair.
Tags: Debate, Life, Mitt Flop, Romney, Social conservatives
MItt Romney tried to cover for his book gaffe today by sticking his foot farther into his mouth. According to the San Jose Mercury:
Asked about his comments during a Fox News interview Monday that L. Ron Hubbard’s Battlefield Earth is his favorite novel, Romney said Huckleberry Finn is his favorite fiction and that the book by Hubbard, who founded Scientology, is his favorite science fiction reading.
`It’s a great science-fiction book," Romney said. `He hadn’t founded Scientology at that point."
There are four problems with this. First, this is just dumb. It’s just a flip-flop back.
Second, why is he making L. Ron Hubbard’s religion the issue? Would the book not be ok if it was written after L. Ron Hubbard founded Scientology?
Third, L. Ron Hubbard founded the first Church of Scientology in 1953. But Battlfield Earth was published in 1982. Indeed, that Wikipedia page points out all the Scientology themes. So is it not ok that you liked it?
And, fourth, it reminds me of a tortured sentence in Hugh Hewitt’s hagiography of Romney:
And Romney knows the war. He was worked to learn its complexities and the nature of our diverse enemies, constantly reading the sorts of books that must be absorbed.
If I am supposed to feel comforted about Romney’s thin national security resume by his reading habits, I am (continue to be?) underwhelmed.
My 2008 Ticker
