Not that there was ever any doubt whether Mitt Romney would run again for president in 2012, but it seems like he just can’t wait to start campaigning, as shown by this interesting pair of quotes from Below the Beltway. Back in February (before all the tea baggers started making so much noise), he said at the Conservative Political Action Conference:
I know we didn’t all agree on TARP. I believe that it was necessary to prevent a cascade of bank collapses. For free markets to work, there has to be a currency and a functioning financial system.
But yesterday, at the Values Voter Summit, Romney dramatically reversed course:
When government is trying to take over health care, buying car companies, bailing out banks, and giving half the White House staff the title of czar – we have every good reason to be alarmed and to speak our mind!
So if Romney is speaking his mind now, whose mind was he speaking back in February?
His speech at the Values Voter Summit is an interesting read, if only to confirm that the fear-mongering that has enthralled the far-right has also spread to what used to be the moderate Republican leadership.
It is only his conclusions that are different: Romney says he wants to pour more money into the military and to continue what he calls “intensive interrogation of terrorists”. Thus Romney condemns the government while simultaneously wanting to expand it, and give it powers beyond those provided in the constitution.
UPDATE: Photos from the Values Voter Summit. Crazy Michele Bachmann claimed that 95% of our health care problems would be fixed if we allowed people to buy their own insurance. Plus a little tort reform. And Carrie Prejean said “Even though I didn’t win the crown that night, I know that the Lord has so much of a bigger crown in heaven for me.” The crowd cheered.
UPDATE 2: Top Romney flip-flops from the past.
6 Comments
Mitt DID NOT flip-flop. Mitt supported TARP because the alternative of doing nothing at the time was far worse. With that in mind, TARP has been used in ways it was not created to be used in and is now a terrible mess. Mitt never supported the way TARP was used and didn’t support it doing anything besides stopping the credit market from completely freezing which would’ve caused the economy to crumble within days. Anyone who has ever run a business knows how much business relies on short-term loans for things like payroll. If a business can’t get those loans, they are forced by law to go bankrupt and our economy was on the verge of a massive collapse like that. Mitt being an adult and doing the right but unpopular think back then is a big reason why I know he will make a great president!
Anyone who has ever run a business (as I have) knows that you would never be able to get a short-term loan to cover payroll, unless you had already liquid assets to put up as collateral. But if you have liquid assets, you won’t go bankrupt. So your statement is false. Sorry.
If Romney was “being an adult and doing the right but unpopular thing” when he supported TARP, then why is he now condemning “bailing out banks” (which is what TARP did)? Sorry, that’s a flip-flop.
My original post wasn’t so much of an attack on Romney, as a statement of how radical the Republican party has become. Romney has no chance of becoming the Republican nominee for president unless he shifts dramatically to the right and starts talking teabagger talk, which is what he has now started doing. I actually feel sorry for him for having to do it.
And to be fair, Obama did some of that shifting too. He was for single-payer health care as a primary candidate, but was against it as a presidential candidate (and now as president). It is a sad artifact of our bizarre political system, but which has reached extreme levels in the current Republican party.
Round one goes to….IK.
I don’t think Mitt has a chance in hell. I’m from MA, so we had to endure the guy for a few years as our governor.
Mitt needs to be spoonfed the Republican agenda, which he then regurgitates in his speeches. He’s a businessman, not a True Believer.
Morrius. If Romney is a businessman/politician, instead of a “true believer”, that would make him *more* appealing to me in the general election. I suspect I will be voting for Obama, but if the republicans can provide a thoughtful, competent, capable leader, I would still consider that candidate.
What I *won’t* consider, ever, is a “true believer*. If the candidate can’t handle nuance, or compromise, then that’s just another Bush sprouting.
Check out multiplechoicemitt.com for more flip flops!
2 Trackbacks/Pingbacks
[…] it was not created to be usedused he in and is now a terrible mess. View original post here: Political Irony › Romney starts flip-flopping; it must mean he is … Share and […]
[…] already reported on Mitt Romney doing a full flip-flop at the Values Voter Summit earlier this month, but we almost forgot this little […]