It just wouldn't be right for a major Republican to come to town without being greeted by a shot across the bow from Joel Connelly. Mitt Romney: welcome to town!
Connelly is disgruntled with Romney's position on abortion, tossing out the flip-flop label - a tag probably being overused by both parties these days after working so well against John Kerry, but I digress. It's certainly an issue that's out there, so you commenters who are quick to complain when the potential flaws of other GOP candidates are being discussed, don't say equal coverage isn't being given to everyone's warts. The "flip-flop" meme is hardly an ideal campaign theme for Romney.
For those interested, blogger Dean Barnett (an admitted Romney enthusiast from Massachusetts) gives the events Connelly outlines a bit more depth and perspective. Barnett highlights that while some like Connelly claim Romney fit nicely into the pro-choice camp in the past, in reality the pro-choice crowd didn't at all like Mitt even back then.
Either way, Romney governed in Massachusetts in way that actually supported social conservatives, as highlighted in this National Review profile:
a good case can be made that Romney has fought harder for social conservatives than any other governor in America, and it is difficult to imagine his doing so in a more daunting political environment. "On marriage and cloning, he has provided aggressive leadership as a positive, pro-family governor," says Kris Mineau of the Massachusetts Family Institute. "On a scale of one to ten, I'd rank him an eight, and I'm a tough grader."
That's probably the rub. Being a social conservative of any sort does not generally lead to good press. If Mitt Romney was previously pro-life in his public policy positions and then shifted to pro-choice, there would likely be fawning coverage of how he was demonstrating great "political courage" and "enlightened" thought in standing up to the cretins in the Republican base...just like the MSM cheered when John McCain went after Jerry Falwell & Co. in 2000.
That's press most Republicans have learned they can do without.
UPDATE: Link to National Review article added.
And for what it's worth, Connelly gave John McCain a similar such welcome to the Puget Sound area earlier this year. Contrast that with gushing coverage of Obama and a balanced look at Hillary
Lastly, "pudge" adds some first hand perspective of Romney's tenure in Massachusetts at #3 in the comments that's worth a read.
Posted by Eric Earling at June 19, 2007 10:54 PM | Email ThisHow, then, could we expect Romney's politics to be any different?
No F...ing way will I vote for Romney.
Posted by: Independent Voter on June 20, 2007 05:31 AMPeople can quibble over whether that was a wise policy (I happen to think it was, as he had no chance of changing abortion law in MA, and the alternative was a leftist governor), but to say he had some huge conversion for the sake of trying to become President is just wrong. It's always been odd to me that people say he had some major flip-flop because I was there, I supported him, I voted for him, and I knew he believed abortion was wrong, as did everyone else.
Posted by: pudge on June 20, 2007 07:08 AMI'll bet he likes the Musli-Priest at St Marks...
Posted by: righton on June 20, 2007 07:09 AMWhen Rs come into town, he talked about campaign cash as if it were a dirty word. Which, IMO, it is but it still is the facts of life as we know it.
But, what type of article is written when one of the chosen ones come into town- any Democrat? Fluff piece.
From now on and till I pass away, flipflop sandals will forever now be called "John Kerrys". He invented the word and Joel C. trying to use it in the way he does is ridiculous.
Another new term is "Swift Boated". That term is also abused.
Posted by: swatter on June 20, 2007 07:22 AMHowever, the bigger question is whether either of them could carry their own state in the electoral college math.
NY-31 blue votes to red
MA-12 blue votes to red
...or perhaps a P/VP combo of the two yielding an electoral college slaughter-fest.
Posted by: Andy on June 20, 2007 09:32 AMOf course, in his wake, his head of information systems was hounded out of office by Microsoft and his Democratic successor has openly embraced proprietary protocols.
The New York Legislature is also being hijacked right now into regressing on the use of OSS.
Posted by: John Bailo on June 20, 2007 10:00 AMApparently Connelly thinks that for Romney to have been truly pro-life, he should have broken his commitment to those who elected him. Instead, as much as he might have liked to have done otherwise, Romney chose to maintain the status quo through the end of his term. He had no problem vetoing several pro-abortion measures that would have changed the status quo. But he deliberately did not use his office to effect change in that policy area. It seems entirely likely that this was a key reason why Romney chose not to run for reelection, as he could not commit to maintaining the status quo in a second term and remain true to his own beliefs.
Rather than being criticized as a "flip-flopper," shouldn't Romney instead be commended for keeping his word to the voters (remember "read my lips?"), even though his personal feelings about the issue had evolved?
Posted by: Patrick on June 20, 2007 01:04 PMI've had a ton of mormons working for me in my time and - while it is almost always wrong to make sweeping generalities - they work hard, have great personal ethics, get along well with others and in general make top notch managers that can be trusted to do what's best in just about every situation.
There's certainly nothing about their chosen "path" that makes them undesirable.
Posted by: Johnny on June 20, 2007 01:56 PMThis is another nomination that will not happen-- and if it does, it will fail.
Rudy's pro-gay, pro-abortion stance will not fly in the South or among conservatives ... the only people who care about Mitt's brand of faith are people like Christopher Hitchens and the "REVEREND" al Sharpton...I don't believe that either will be voting in a Republican primary...
Posted by: Paul Fuhr on June 21, 2007 09:15 AM