Friday, June 03, 2005

Faking It

It looks like "Ben" was right all along, Romney is a fraud. Count me among the unsurprised.

One of Romney's aids uncorked this gem during an interview with the National Review (as reported by the Boston Globe)

"He's been a pro-life Mormon faking it as a pro-choice friendly," Romney adviser Michael Murphy told the National Review in a cover story hitting newstands today titled "Matinee Mitt."
That, ladies and gentlemen, is a perfect example of Howard Dean's definition of a gaffe: when somebody tells the truth when they really shouldn't have.

I've twice commented now on Mitt's rhetoric on reproductive rights, and it just seems to get murkier and murkier for the governor. Now that it seems that Romney was being dishonest with the people of the Commonwealth when he claimed to be pro-choice, one has to wonder just what else has he been dishonest about? We know, of course, that he was for stem-cell research before he was against it. Could it be that he's faking his enthusiasm for the death penalty? Tax cutting? Insurance reform? How can we trust him?

In his defense, Romney says the following:
I am opposed to abortion, but I indicated that I would maintain the laws as they exist in Massachusetts, and I've done exactly that.
That's all well and good, but I've got news for the governor: if you don't want to change the laws you are pro-choice. One's personal feelings about abortion do not enter into the equation -- if you think abortion should be legal even if you don't think anyone should ever have them, you are still pro-choice. If you are, let's say, elected governor and you believe that abortion should be outlawed, but you tell everyone you won't fight to change or even restrict access, you are either a liar, a coward, or pro-choice. I'll let Mitt take his pick.

Blue Mass Group and Chimes at Midnight have their reactions, and the Mass Dems are having a field day.