Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
Later today, Mitt Romney is scheduled to give a major speech on health care. I'm skeptical--as Mollie noted below, so is the Wall Street Journal, which today ran one of the most scathing editorials that I can recall in its pages, declaring that Romney "might as well try to knock off Joe Biden and get on the Obama ticket."
All the same, I'm trying to keep an open mind. No, much more than that. I want to like Romney. He's intelligent, well-spoken, and accomplished. He's seasoned, having run for president once already. He's rich, and he has a lot of rich friends, a not insignificant matter now that the Obama campaign has made clear it intends to raise $1 billion. At this point in his life, Romney sounds like a thorough conservative.
Which brings me to my problem. "At this point in his life." How much allowance can we prudently, properly make for Romney's earlier stands? May we overlook them on account of his youth at the time? Or wave them away because he was running for office in Massachusetts, one of the most liberal states in the nation, and accordingly had to adopt liberal positions? To what extent does a difference in a man's views later in life reflect growth and maturity--and to what extent does it suggest instead mere opportunism?
Nearby, a link to the test case, a video of Romney's 1994 debate with Ted Kennedy, against whom he was running for the Senate. Among other matters, as you'll see, Romney declares himself pro-choice--vehemently--places distance between himself and Ronald Reagan, claiming "I was an Independent during Reagan-Bush," and suggests that the Boy Scouts ought to drop its ban on gays.
Would you do me a favor? Would you look at the clip, then let me know how much weight we should place on Romney then as we evaluate Romney now?
- Comment (35)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (1)
- Pages:
- 1
- 2
Comments:
Dec '10
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
Peter, why are you asking us to help you reconcile Romney's strongly expressed beliefs in 1994 with his diametrically opposed beliefs today? Isn't that Romney's job? If he wants us to have faith that he was pandering then but is sincere now, or that he has had a multiplicity of conversions of belief on important values, then he has to make that case. Frankly, his ability or inability to make that case is as much a criterion for judging his suitability for the Presidency as are the beliefs he claims to hold today.
May '10
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
Ugh.
Jul '10
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
Devastating. This guy should be required to buy pander credits; he used up far more than his fair lifetime quota in just five minutes. That's a fundamental character issue; it doesn't change over time.
His position on affirmative action was genuinely terrifying. Force companies to publish diversity statistics in their 10(k)'s and then bludgeon them? Positively Stalinesque.
Edited on May 12, 2011 at 7:21pmMay '10
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
Peter Robinson:
Peter, I went through the same reservations regarding Romney in '08, and never became convinced. I still have not. This was largely due to his economic positions. He always sounds appropriately conservative when giving his talking points, but the minute he starts going into specifics he begins to reek of bringing 'managerial capitalism' and technocracy into the white house. This gave me the impression of someone who was simply playing the game to be elected, and, I think quite naturally, led me wonder whether his social and foreign policy positions were simply talking points also.
Like you, I'm still open to him to some degree as a 'lesser of evils' candidate, but his supporters have yet to address my concerns satisfactorily. At this point, I feel that by supporting Romney I'd be relying too much on a 'leap of faith'. I want more confidence in my candidate than that.
May '10
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
Bingo!
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
I might simply offer up this video of a 1988 Al Gore:
... and this link about the stridently pro-life words & votes of a young Gore as food for thought.
Oct '10
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
When I try to look at it from Romney's point of view, and put myself in his shoes, I end up thinking defensively and coming up with lame excuses.
The only possible way out would be for him to emphasize his past as a learning experience - i.e., he is less likely to be sympathetic to arguments for affirmative action because he's seen the damage his former positions have done to families, the economy, and the country.
Regarding abortion, if he had just said he was pro-life, explained why, and THEN said he didn't want to impose his beliefs, it would have sounded a lot better. BTW, does "pro-life" have a universally accepted policy prescription? Is it to repeal Roe vs. Wade and leave it up to the states, or ban and criminalize them? Or just allow or require more regulation, like mandatory waiting period, parental consent, ultrasound, counseling, etc.?
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
Ursula Hennessey: I might simply offer up this video of a 1988 Al Gore:
Ah, I see. You're saying, Ursula, that Mitt Romney is every bit as principled and reliable as Al Gore. Thanks. I feel better now.
Nov '10
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
Steyn-Goldberg-Long called it in their latest podcast: Mitt's the guy that central casting sends over when you ask them to send you someone "presidential looking." "Authentically inauthentic," I believe it was. Just so.
Oct '10
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
Peter Robinson
Ursula Hennessey: I might simply offer up this video of a 1988 Al Gore:
Ah, I see. You're saying, Ursula, that Mitt Romney is every bit as principled and reliable as Al Gore. Thanks. I feel better now. · May 12 at 10:31am
Anything for you, Peter.
Oct '10
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
I battled Mitt's father in the Goldwater campaign - the acorn did not fall far from the tree.
Newt is fatally flawed on some key issues, his personality and his personal life.
Sarah has never prepared herself for an office higher than governor of a small state.
We can't beat somebody with nobody. So far, nobody fully inspiring has appeared.
<sigh>
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
Peter, I think of Romney as a question of evolution vs. opportunism.
People can change their minds and alter their positions. It's entirely consist, for example, to have supported welfare in its original design (aid to abandoned women) but oppose it, generations later, when that same program was fostering dependency and stifling ambition. I'll listen to a candidate who's altered his or her view on abortion, provided they have a compelling personal reason for altering the belief.
But the constant here: it has to be about core convictions, not means to a political end.
One could point out that Ronald Reagan once favored big-government Democrats. Even Hillary started out as a Goldwater Girl. But Reagan saw the light and had a genuine conversion.
Romney seems not to have had a conversion, just a series of adaptations (think a high-numbered software) to new campaigns and changing political climates. Not the road to Damascus, but a bumpier road to New Hampshire.
May '10
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
The fact that Romney didn't disavow RomneyCare at least a year ago totally disqualifies him for me. Because:
1) He ostensibly believes his rhetoric about the problem being in the execution not in the conception of that horrendous program. If so, he is just a big government technocrat who thinks big government IS the solution, it just has to be run by smart guys like him.
2) or, he doesn't, and he is just too arrogant to admit he was wrong. In this case, the fact that he still expects us to nominate him indicates that he actually believes that the presidency should go to the smartest guy in the room, because smarts matter more than convictions.
I know above all else, we need a nominee with solid conservative convictions.
Jul '10
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
That clip made Ted Kennedy sound like a Ricochet Member.
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
Romney is a managerial progressive, not a principled conservative. Politically, he is a chameleon. To nominate him for the Presidency in the current circumstances would be suicidal for the Republican Party -- which does not mean that it will not happen. It is, after all, Mitt's turn.
Oct '10
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
"At this point in his life, Romney sounds like a thorough conservative."
And at one point in his life George H.W. Bush said "Read my lips: No new taxes." How'd that work out for us?
Mitt cannot be assumed to have, and more importantly trusted to follow, solid conservative principles.
Jan '11
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
"All the same, I'm trying to keep an open mind."
If what you're trying to do is conger up some rationalizations to obviate the obvious, you've got your work cut out for you. But, you can get plenty of hints from "The Progressive's Book on Seeing What is Not There," or it's sequel, "The Progressive's Book on Not Seeing What is There." Both will get you a long way toward your goal; just avoid looking into mirrors.
Edited on May 12, 2011 at 9:19pmAug '10
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
This is a carefully edited tape designed to put Romney in the worst possible light, obviously made by someone who is not a fan. There may be segments which showed his more conservative side that were left out.
However, even viewing the slanted portions on this tape I get the impression of someone who is trying to look more liberal than he actually is in order to get elected as a Republican in a race against the most liberal senator in the country from the most liberal state in the country for crying out loud!
Almost worked, too, until Teddy played the religion card (don't you know those Mormons will outlaw Catholicism if you elect Romney!)
Let's be real, if Mitt would've run as a true blue conservative in that race he would've gotten less than 10% of the vote. His personal beliefs are closer to his current stance than the spin he had to do in this race. ( Although I do admit that whole affirmative action thing really creeped me out)
Rather than convince me Mitt is not the guy convince me who is the guy (or gal) that would do a better job.
May '10
Re: Would You Help Me with the Early Mitt?
That is totally unfair to Reagan, I am sure he grew up an "FDR" Dem like so many from his generation, and then got into the real world and eventually saw how flawed their ideas were. Also this is not your Father's Dem Party anymore.