A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
On the front page of the New York Times this morning, a long story on Mitt Romney's positions on abortion. In both his unsuccessful 1994 senate race and his successful 2002 gubernatorial race, the Times notes, Romney campaigned as unambiguously pro-choice.
Then? "By 2005, with Mr. Romney eyeing a possible presidential bid, he began to distance himself from his abortion rights platform." In an article that June in National Review, Romney stated "[m]y political philosophy is pro-life."
Which brings us to the sentence that made me wince:
That same article quoted his top strategist at the time, Mike Murphy, as saying Mr. Romney had been "a pro-life Mormon faking it as a pro-choice friendly."
"Faking it?" As best I can tell, there really is no other way of construing this. Mike was suggesting that Romney intentionally misled the people of Massachusetts.
Behind-the-scenes politics, as Ronald Reagan once remarked, can be "like seeing civilization with its pants down."
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Comments:
Feb '12
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
EJHill- Well spotted. After all,.. 'if you ain't eatin' spam than you ain't eatin' ham..' and what a ham Mitt is. Don't you just love Myrna Loy's voice, the way she says 'best butter..' Good, better, best.. never let it rest till your good is better and your better is your best.. Mr Bland churns to butter..
Oct '11
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
DrewInWisconsin:
First, this is an assurance for pro-lifers. "Go ahead, vote for Romney. He's one of you."
But second, the reference to his mercenary flip-flopping is also an assurance for the pro-abortion crowd. "Don't worry, he doesn't really mean it." · 30 minutes ago
I for once salute the American Technological advance of dual-way flip-flops.
May '10
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
#18 Someone involved with this post has a vested interest in not having a Presidency that could at least approach (albeit not equal--the Soviets are gone) the successes of the Reagan Administration in reversing the extreme political and economic horrors of his predecessor. IYKWIMAITYD
Edited on February 13, 2012 at 1:03amMay '10
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
Acquiescence is complicity of conscience. No governor can overturn Roe but a requiring a sonogram or other visual information on the current stage of fetal development can serve as deterrent. (And if you don't think so ask yourself why the pro-choicers are so adament against it... An informed woman is not their desire.)
A pro-life governor who shrugs his shoulders and says, "There's nothing I can do," is either lazy, ignorant or willing to shelve any belief for his own personal gain.
Apr '11
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
Duane Oyen
3) Albert, in 1994, Romney said that he was "independent during Reagan-Bush" during a debate. If you knew and worked for President Reagan, hearing that line colors all of your subsequent thoughts about the speaker. ·
Peter doesn't apply that standard to far more severe griping from Newt and prefers Perry the Democrat (well after the rest of the state had switched) to Romney the Republican voting Independent. I believe the following to be approximations of Peter's positions, but would welcome corrections. Perry was blamelessly born a Democrat, while Romney's becoming an independent in order to vote in Democrat primaries when there was no competitive Republican primary demonstrated an animus towards the party. Newt was a congressman, and it was therefore his job to urge the party not to continue in Reagan's footsteps, and to condemn Reagan's mistakes. Importantly, perhaps, Peter agrees with some of Newt's detailed condemnations, while Mitt's unvoiced disagreements can be imagined however one sees fit.
I do not know why Mitt's disagreements are imagined to be ones that Peter does not sympathize with, but I suspect it is those imputed views that are the problem.
Jun '10
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
I'm pretty sure Peter thinks all of them are unsavory. Much of the blow back is due to the establishment trying to move Romney along without us noticing how non-conservative he is in addition to the other non-conservatives on stage.
I'd feel a lot better if he stopped trying to convince us how authentically conservative he is. I don't think many people are buying that line.
Aug '11
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
James Of England:
Mike Murphy is a fascinating guy, and often comes out with very interesting insights, but I do get the impression that interviewers often walk away from interviews with him with a higher view of Murphy and a lower view of the candidate than ought to be the case.
Oh, I assure you that after every interview I hear with Mike Murphy, my opinion doesn't change a bit! : )
Apr '11
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
EJHill
Acquiescence is complicity of conscience. No governor can overturnRoebut a requiring a sonogram or other visual information on the current stage of fetal development can serve as deterrent. (And if you don't think so ask yourself why the pro-choicers are so adament against it... Aninformedwoman is not their desire.)
A pro-life governor who shrugs his shoulders and says, "There's nothingI can do," is either lazy, ignorant or willing to shelve any belief for his own personal gain. · 5 minutes ago
How do you imagine that Mitt could have required a sonogram? A governor's power includes the bully pulpit and vetoes, but not rule by diktat. He did fight, and fought hard, winning some victories, but suffering a large number of veto overrides. Promising not to expand protections of life was a very cheap promise, as it was inconceivable that such a bill might pass, and any executive order would have been the immediate subject of legislation. Promising not to reduce protections of life was not an easy or cheap promise.
Feb '11
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
The differrnce between Perry and Romney being Democrats, is Perry at least had the good decency to tell you when he was one. Romney on the other hand called himself a Republican the whole time; and this latest thing highlights his willingness to deceive.
Aug '11
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
Samwise Gamgee
I'd feel a lot better if he stopped trying to convince us how authenticallyconservative he is. I don't think many people are buying that line.
Apparently at CPAC he used the phrase "severely conservative" which really caused the raised eyebrows. What sort of conservative calls himself "severely conservative"?
Jul '10
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
DrewInWisconsin: ...
But second, the reference to his mercenary flip-flopping is also an assurance for the pro-abortion crowd. "Don't worry, he doesn't really mean it." · 53 minutes ago
Or "Don't worry, he's just another of the dissembling illigitimati and his word is not worth spit."
May '10
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
Executive order? Governors have them, too.
Dec '10
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
It's a little strange, in my mind, that Romney is being treated like an incumbent without any of the advantages of actual incumbency.
Very few people actually tout the merits of an alternative so much as the deficiencies of Romney.
May '10
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
It's called weighing the pros and cons... It's the nature of primaries. A ham sandwich has merits over Obama.
May '10
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
If inauthenticity disqualified a politician from being president, we would have had a vacant office for significant periods of this country's history.My issue with Romney isn't that he isn't a "real" conservative; it's that he doesn't seem like much of a "real" anything. Everything about him seems pre-programmed and calculated to always appeal to the bare majority of people in the room without offending the other 49%. On the numerous occasions where he tells us how conservative he is, I get the sense that he is trying to convince himself as much as he is trying to convince us.
Dec '10
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
James Of England
Peter doesn't apply that standard to far more severe griping from Newt and prefers Perry the Democrat (well after the rest of the state had switched) to Romney the Republican voting Independent. · 16 minutes ago
I can explain my own Perry support but this thread should not be about Peter. The truth is, I am on the Romney bandwagon now, because of the 3 left (no, I'm not even considering Ron Paul) he's the least-worst. Also, I'm in Iowa so I've been paying attention for quite some time.
I am not interested in making "statements", so I only considered candidates who had significant electoral experience and outside of being an ordinary House member.
Perry'd had experience doing actual conservative things in office. If the libs (always aggressors in the culture wars) came up with some new nonsense, his instinct would be more to oppose than co-opt.
Of the credible candidates, I saw him as more conservative on the broad range of issues than any other and he registered high on the competent governance scale. It's moot now, but it had nothing to do with former party registration.
Sep '10
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
Okay a little analysis:
Say Romney gets elected, what difference will his stance on abortion make to the current state of the law? He cannot change any SCOTUS rulings, although he may be able to advance legislation in an attempt to make SCOTUS rule again on the question. To do so right out of the box would be a mistake similar to Obama's on healthcare. Are any of the other candidates saying they will advance such legislation? None that I've heard.
Where can his stance have a possible affect? On SCOTUS nominees obviously. Will he be able to tell the Senate, which may be evenly split, that he is only going to pick court nominees that want to overturn Roe.V.Wade? If he does, the Democrats will filibuster the nominee. On the other side, say he picks a nominee with pro-choice leanings. How long will that nominee last do you think? Maybe about as long as Harriet Meiers?
At this point in the game, whether or not he is pro-life really or really pro-choice does not matter. He can only have marginal affect on any legislation, and any SCOTUS nominees will be closely watched.
Apr '11
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
AmishDude
James Of England
Peter doesn't apply that standard to far more severe griping from Newt and prefers Perry the Democrat (well after the rest of the state had switched) to Romney the Republican voting Independent. ·
I can explain my own Perry support but this thread should not be about Peter. The truth is, I am on the Romney bandwagon now, because of the 3 left (no, I'm not even considering Ron Paul) he's the least-worst. Also, I'm in Iowa so I've been paying attention for quite some time.
I am not interested in making "statements", so I only considered candidates who had significant electoral experience and outside of being an ordinary House member.
Perry'd had experience doing actual conservative things in office. If the libs (always aggressors in the culture wars) came up with some new nonsense, his instinct would be more to oppose than co-opt.
I wasn't meaning to disparage Perry; I was using Peter's position on Perry's position on Reagan-Bush as a data point to demonstrate that the defense of Reagan was more nuanced than was being implied. I liked Perry on substance, too.
Oct '11
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
DrewInWisconsin
Samwise Gamgee
I'd feel a lot better if he stopped trying to convince us how authenticallyconservative he is. I don't think many people are buying that line.
Apparently at CPAC he used the phrase "severely conservative" which really caused the raised eyebrows. What sort of conservative calls himself "severely conservative"? · 22 minutes ago
You know, you wouldn't have to say "apparently" if you had listened to his speech.
Dec '10
Re: A Sentence I Wish I Hadn't Read
EJHill
It's called weighing the pros and cons... It's the nature of primaries. A ham sandwich has merits over Obama. · 9 minutes ago
But it isn't even that. If it were pros and cons, I'd be very happy, but the not-Romneys don't have their pros itemized. It's only about cons and only for Romney.
From a political perspective (and not from a character perspective) I think a Romney presidency would do fine on the issue of abortion. Robert Bork has been his adviser on matters judicial and this carries a lot of weight with me.
But I guess I don't have a need to have a president I put on a pedestal. In fact, I think this idea of the President as proto-king is fundamentally anti-conservative.
Reagan was such a crazy outlier, it's beyond imagining. But I'm OK with politicians being dim bulbs of weak character. They are public servants, after all, not public masters.