Mitt Romney: Political Whore

As the Boston Globe reported last week, the Massachusetts Democratic Party recently launched a website that provides an unprecedented level of insight into the political whoredom of Mitt Romney. While the 2004 presidential election brought such egregious smear sites as the one operated by the GOP front organization Swift Vets and POWs for Truth, the website from Bay State Democrats is a very different breed. Rather than relying on hearsay testimony, factually inaccurate statements and unsupported assertions, RomneyFacts.com presents documented quotes and positions from the former Massachusetts governor, and compares them to statements he is currently making as a presidential candidate.

As I wrote in The Inexplicable Charisma of Fred Thompson, Mr. Romney has exhibited a capacity to double back on stated positions and "deeply held convictions" that would be fascinating to behold if it weren't so awful that he is actually a front runner for the Republican nomination. While it has been painful to watch John McCain sell his soul for a chance at the nod from the GOP base, the savior of the Salt Lake City Olympics is much more comfortable in his chosen approach:

Mitt Romney, however, seems to have no such compunctions, but even if he somehow manages to get past the theocratic elements of the GOP base that can't stomach his Mormonism, he remains a pandering, serial flip-flopper apparently willing to do or say just about anything to be president, and people can tell that about him. He is lucky not to have dislocated something during all of the gymnastically-challenging policy reversals that have been his hallmark in recent months, and frankly, his posturing is nothing short of embarrassing.

In case you think some of the language I have used here is hyperbolic, take a look at a couple of the comparative quotes available at RomneyFacts.com:

[Romney] endorsed embryonic stem cell research, saying the controversial science might one day help treat his wife's multiple sclerosis...."I am in favor of stem cell research. I will work and fight for stem cell research. I'd be happy to talk to [President Bush] about this, though I don't know if I could budge him an inch." (Boston Globe, June 14, 2002)

- versus -

"FACT: Governor Romney Opposes Using Taxpayer Money to Fund Embryo-Destructive Research." (MittRomney.com: A Record of Protecting Life)

Or:

"I was not planning on signing up for the military. It was not my desire to go off and serve in Vietnam..." (Boston Herald, May 2, 1994)

- versus -

"I longed in many respects to actually be in Vietnam and be representing our country there and in some ways it was frustrating not to feel like I was there as part of the troops that were fighting in Vietnam." (Boston Globe, June 24, 2007)

No one should fault individuals who change their positions or opinions based on new information or additional evidence. The breadth and extent to which Mitt Romney has endeavored to re-author himself in order to curry favor with the GOP base, however, is truly striking. Take a look at RomneyFacts.com; there are many more flip-flops just like these on major issues and with regard to Mr. Romney's own biography. It's an eye-opening view into a hollow man who will say anything to please the people he needs to put him at the forefront of the Republican party.