You know– I wish I didn’t have to keep doing this. Really. I don’t want to be "that guy in NH that keeps bashin’ Romney" because I am unnattached to any presidential wannabee at this moment. As I’ve written in the past, when looking over the current field thus far, I can’t help thinking, "Is this it?" I’m waiting for that as yet unknown conservative savior to ride in on his white horse to save the day.
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Oh sure, Duncan Hunter looks pretty acceptable to me. He seems to hold almost the identical views of the various issues as I do. Unfortunately, when I mention his name to people, they respond with, "Duncan Who?" Hopefully that will change.
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In the meantime, we have Mitt Romney. Every day, it seems, we hear about Mitt Romney claiming to be the candidate of the right, followed by some story from the not so distant past detailing positions and utterances that are indicative of him being anything but. The past week or so has been particularly rough for the Massachussetts pol, with the appearance of video from his 1994 campaign for US Senate showing a Mitt Romney in full denial of ANY conservative core beliefs. (Click here to read more and to link to the video) Watching the old footage of Mitt badmouthing the Reagan presidential era during his debate with Ted Kennedy was almost shocking to behold, given his supposed "conservatism." One cannot be both a conservative and anti-Reagan at the same time.
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Taken from the conservative point of view, whether it’s abortion, gay rights, or Reaganism, it’s quite obvious that the earlier version of Mitt Romney was wrong on everything. Fast forward to today, and he claims to have "evolved" on these issues and now sees the light. The big question is whether these changes are real, or simply part of some grand plan to win the Republican nomination. After all, voters in the GOP primaries tend to be very conservative as a rule. The problem, as I see it, is whether this conservatism would evaporate if he were to actually end up winning the primary.
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The pro-lifers and the traditional marriage champions are rightfully starting to question Romney’s true allegiance to their respective causes. This is going to be problematic, as they make up a large part of the voting block he’ll need to sew up the nomination. It gets worse, because we soon might be adding the Second-Amendment crowd to the list of doubters. The Jan. 14th Boston Globe has the story, which starts out with what has become a familiar refrain: Romney rejecting some former position in favor of a new one. This time, it’s guns…
Former governor Mitt Romney, who once described himself as a supporter of strong gun laws, is distancing himself from that rhetoric now as he attempts to court the gun owners who make up a significant force in Republican primary politics.
Of course he is. This one’s gonna be a tough one for him to overcome, I think. As recently as 2002, according to the Globe story, he sung the praises of Massachusetts’ gun laws, among the toughest in the country.
As the GOP gubernatorial candidate in 2002, Romney lauded the state’s strong laws during a debate against Democrat Shannon O’Brien. "We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts; I support them," he said. "I won’t chip away at them; I believe they protect us and provide for our safety.".Today, as he explores a presidential bid, Romney is sending a very different message on gun issues, which are far more prominent in Republican national politics than in Massachusetts..He now touts his work as governor to ease restrictions on gun owners. He proudly describes himself as a member of the NRA — though his campaign won’t say when he joined.
Here in the blogosphere, Mitt Romney is fast becoming known as a "flip-flopper." This spelled doom for the previous owner of that title in the last presidential campaign: John Kerry. Will the same happen to Mitt? Can we as Republicans afford to take a chance with this guy? I really worry what all of these epiphanies and changes of heart will do in the hands of an energized and motivated Democratic party seeking to recapture the White House.
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Oh, and one last bit from the Globe story is this:
And Friday, at his campaign’s request, top officials of the NRA and the National Shooting Sports Foundation led him around one of the country’s biggest gun shows.
There’s no word yet if he’s gonna borrow that old army helmet from Mike Dukakis and drive a tank around for the TV cameras…