Last week, Mitt Romney chatted with Fox's Neil Cavuto and argued that in politics, "[Y]ou don't change your position to try to win states or certain subgroups of Americans. You have the positions you have."
For the Republican presidential hopeful, it was a rather meta moment. Romney has traditionally defended flip-flopping, but as of last Thursday, he's apparently flip-flopped on flip-flopping.
The depths of the irony are amazing. Consider, for example, how this relates to Romney's take on gay adoptions.
In the same Fox interview, the Republican candidate said, "I know many gay couples that are able to adopt children. That's fine.... [I]f two people of the same gender want to live together, want to have a loving relationship, or even to adopt a child -- in my state individuals of the same sex were able to adopt children. In my view, that's something that people have a right to do."
This won some plaudits, and reinforced perceptions that Romney might be Etch A Sketching towards the center, but on Friday, Mr. You Have The Positions You Have decided to walk that back.
The interviewer noted that Romney "endorsed" gay adoption, but the former governor said that's not quite right -- he "simply acknowledged the fact that gay adoption is legal in all states but one."
So, when Romney said gay adoption is "fine" and something "people have a right to do," this wasn't an endorsement or even an expression of his own views. He was merely giving a brief recitation of existing law in most states.
Oh my.
Why do you suppose Romney walked back a sensible position, just one day after taking a reasonable line? It probably has something to do with the fact that Republicans are supposed to oppose gay adoption, and the former governor temporarily forgot that his base doesn't tolerate exceptions to the far-right culture war agenda.
In other words, cowardice once again got the better of Romney, just as it did two weeks ago when a supporter talked about trying President Obama for "treason," and again last week when he could have taken a stand against bullying, but chose not to (the religious right fiercely opposes anti-bullying proposals for fear it may lead to fewer gay kids being picked on).
The cowardice was also on display when the right disapproved of Richard Grenell. And when Rush Limbaugh went after Sandra Fluke. And when the campaign was asked for Romney's position on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. And when Romney wouldn't state his views on the Violence Against Women Act or a watered-down version of the DREAM Act. And on and on.
It's now reached the point at which Romney is parsing the meaning of the word "fine" so as to hedge on whether gay adoption is acceptable.
No Profile in Courage Award for you, Mitt.





Why assume that the man is constantly lying on almost everything all the fnording time, when the much simpler explanation is that he's dying of Alzheimer's disease and therefore simply can not remember his own past or what he stood for a few years or months ago?
When will Rachel stop beating up on this sick, sick man?
Gramatical Correction...
When will Rachel stop beating up on this sickening, sickening man?
There, doesn't that read better?
check out romney badger on youtube
I don't see how he can keep a straight face with he is spewing this BS. Not even nervous laughter!
Mittens has no need for courage! His role, as our next president, is to take marching orders from the theocratic reich wing on 'moral' issues and to take marching orders from his brothren in the 1/10 of 1%ers on economic issues.
You forgot that Mittens will take marching orders from the LDS Profit Monson in SLC.
I shudder to think who will vote for Mitty, as he's pledged allegiance to one living person. He has accepted that this person has the sole power to speak for Gd, and this one white geezer has power over the disposition of his immortal/immoral soul, a la: do what's good for me and the LDS corporate empire or you'll burn forever and never get your own planet.
I know lovely LDS people, but I don't trust anyone in civil power who believes one living "prophet" speaks directly for Gd. That's got cult written all over it.
Does Willard Mitt Romney get nose bleeds with all the flip flopping he does ?
Does he wear asbestos pants since they are on fire all the time with all that lying he does ?
Does he know that we can see him changing his positions every day ?
Hmmm. Makes you wonder if he has even one sincere bone in his body.
Oops , I forgot I was running on the Hate Platform
What Romney said was that he thinks they have a right. He merely isn't aware for sure. They need to ask him easier questions, like "what do you read to keep informed?" or "can you name a Supreme Court decision?"
The man operates with and is motivated by fear, I think. One of the problems with so many in the world.
he never said things were worse
Yes and he created the universe, invented the wheel, saved the American Auto Industry AND loves women . . . umm hmm. And if you pull my other leg it plays jingle bells.
Mitt bought a 3,009 sq. ft., single story home, in La Jolla, Ca. for $12,000,000. Located at 311 Dunemere. It was too small, so he BULL DOZED it down, to rebuild a larger one. This is the house that will have car elevators.
He needed a large beach house for all of his flip flops.
While I am not a huge Obama fan I will be working for his re-election just because Mitt Romney is without a doubt one of the scariest people running around loose.
I am running on the same wave length and will be working hard to keep Mittens 'Mormon Elder' RMoney from taking office and screwing the crap out of the amerikan workers, poor, and elderly.
check out romney badger on youtube by manson from the bubba show
Does anyone here really believe that anyone who would vote for Romney could in any way be influenced to change her mind by the candidate's missteps, gaffes, contradictions, misrepresentations and outright lies?
Really, didn't we learn how tonedeaf this constituency is with W. Bush, N. Gingrich, H. Cain, G. Norquist, A. West, J. Inhofe, S. Palin, and R. Santorum?
The problem is that all of these Robotic, Religious-Fanatic, Right-Wing Rhetoric repeaters are interchangeable GOP Stepford droids.
Newt Bush, GW Gingrich, Grover Cain, Herman Nordquist, Sara Bachman, Miclele Plain, Mitt Santorum, Rick Romney, etc, etc, etc,
It is like they memorize all the lies they are going to tell each morning they wake up. When you are dealing with people with no soul and no conscience it is difficult to make a dent in their prevarications.
Think Progress also points out that "the fact that gay adoption is legal in all states but one" is simply not a fact.
If two different people asked Mitt about the 'sitting position' would he clearly identify his stand on this issue? Has he identified his beliefs about the 'missionary position?
Mitt-the man of many faces. He does the GOP and its fan base of crazies proud.
If big business like the Koch brothers are giving romney 200 million bucks to campaign, that says everything you need to know right there. And if he gets voted in , the 'little guy' who cast his vote that way, deserves every single day of non retirement that he gets. Plain and simple.
It helps Dems and Obama if Romney is forced to backtrack on his statements on this issue. The Dems can portray Romney as a radical Republican who takes his orders from the far right. This is what Obama wants to do as his campaign strategy. We should welcome Romney's walk back of his statements.
How they feel about Mitt - Before and After
When politicians are rivals for the same office, they are usually at odds over issues and ideals which separate them from each other; after all that politics. They then say things that although true, are hard to reconcile later on, especially when they later endorse your candidacy.
Republicans are famous for herding around their latest candidates to show unity to make sure that they get elected into office, but (in this instance at least) aren’t they flipping flopping as much as their candidate?
So, keeping that in mind; here are a few before and after quotes:
Newt Gingrich-
Before: “We discovered last night that Mitt Romney has picked up Charlie Crist’s campaign manager. I thought that told you everything you need to know about this primary. As governor of Massachusetts [Romney] was pro-abortion, pro-gay rights, pro-tax increase and pro- gun control. Now that makes you a moderate in Massachusetts but it makes you pretty liberal in a Republican primary. That’s probably why he hired Charlie Crist’s staff.”
After: "Mitt Romney is a solid conservative," Gingrich told host Bob Schieffer right out of the gate, “I'll do everything I can to help elect Romney and I'll do everything I can to help the Senate and to help the House Republicans. I'm not sure what endorsement means beyond that. I will be campaigning with Mitt in the near future."
John McCain-
Before: “I think he managed companies and he bought and he sold and sometimes people lost their jobs,” McCain said in one January 2008 debate.
After: "Keep everybody in business; keep every industry no matter how bad it is. And that’s what communism is, and unfortunately it doesn’t work. And, look, nobody feels worse than someone who is involved in it when you have to lay people off. But the fact is that there are so many times when you have to improve, you have to cut back, you have to do things."
Mke Huckabee-
Before: When referring to Romney in 2004, "I want to be a president who reminds you of the guy you work with, not the guy who laid you off."
After: “Romney’s come under a lot of fire; it’s surprising to see these attacks coming from fellow Republicans. They ought to know that if downsizing can turn around a failing company, then at least it prevents all the jobs from being lost and sets up a strong company that can grow and start re-hiring.”
Re: "The cowardice was also on display when...the campaign was asked for Romney's position on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act."
Here's his position:
Women's “77 cents to men's dollar” doesn't mean, as pay-equity advocates want us to believe, women are paid less than men in the same jobs everywhere in the country. Nor does it mean that, even more incredibly in the vein of the stereotype “men are stronger than women,” every woman earns 23% less than every man, perhaps leading some of the more benighted to think Diane Sawyer of ABC News earns less than the young man walking back and forth on the street wearing a “Pizzas $5” sign.
The figures are arrived at by comparing the sexes' median incomes. They refer to the point at which 50% of workers earn above the figures and 50% below (which means that a lot of women earning above their median make more than a lot of men earning below theirs). They don't account for the number of hours worked each week, experience, seniority, training, education or even the job description itself. They compare all women to all men, not people in the same job with the same experience. So a veteran male software designer's salary is weighed against a first-year female teacher's income.
Strategically ignoring this over the decades has been less than productive:
No law yet has closed the gender wage gap — not the 1963 Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, not Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, not the 1978 Pregnancy Discrimination Act, not the 1991 amendments to Title VII, not affirmative action (which has benefited mostly white women, the group most vocal about the wage gap - http://tinyurl.com/74cooen), not diversity, not the countless state and local laws and regulations, not the horde of overseers at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and not the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.... Nor will a "paycheck fairness" law work.
That's because women's pay-equity advocates, who always insist one more law is needed, continue to overlook the effects of female AND male behavior:
Despite the 40-year-old demand for women's equal pay, millions of wives still choose to have no pay at all. In fact, according to Dr. Scott Haltzman, author of "The Secrets of Happily Married Women," stay-at-home wives, including the childless who represent an estimated 10 percent, constitute a growing niche. "In the past few years,” he says in a CNN report at http://tinyurl.com/6reowj, “many women who are well educated and trained for career tracks have decided instead to stay at home.” (“Census Bureau data show that 5.6 million mothers stayed home with their children in 2005, about 1.2 million more than did so a decade earlier....” at http://tinyurl.com/qqkaka. If indeed more women are staying at home, perhaps it's because feminists and the media have told women for years that female workers are paid less than men in the same jobs — so why bother working if they're going to be penalized and humiliated for being a woman. Yet, if "greedy, profit-obsessed" employers could get away with paying women less than men for the same work, they would not hire a man – ever.)
As full-time mothers or homemakers, stay-at-home wives earn zero. How can they afford to do this while in many cases living in luxury? Because they're supported by their husband, an “employer” who pays them to stay at home.
The implication of this is probably obvious to 10-year-olds but seems incomprehensible to or is ignored by feminists and the liberal media: If millions of wives are able to accept NO wages, millions of other wives, whose husbands' incomes range from moderate to high, are able to:
-accept low wages
-refuse overtime and promotions
-choose jobs based on interest first, wages second — the reverse of what men tend to do
-take more unpaid days off
-avoid uncomfortable wage-bargaining (http://tinyurl.com/3a5nlay)
-work part-time instead of full-time (“According to a 2009 UK study for the Centre for Policy Studies, only 12 percent of the 4,690 women surveyed wanted to work full time”: http://bit.ly/ihc0tl See also an Australian report at http://tinyurl.com/862kzes)
All of which LOWER WOMEN'S AVERAGE AND MEDIAN PAY.
Women are able to make these choices because they are supported — or anticipate being supported — by a husband who must earn more than if he'd chosen never to marry. (Still, even many men who shun marriage, unlike their female counterparts, feel their self worth is tied to their net worth.) This is how MEN help create the wage gap: as a group they pass up jobs that interest them for ones that pay well. If the roles were reversed so that men raised the children and women raised the income, men would average lower pay than women.
Points to ponder:
The power in money is not in earning it (there is only responsibility, sweat, and stress in earning money). The power in money is in SPENDING it. And, Warren Farrell says in The Myth of Male Power at http://www.warrenfarrell.org/TheBook/index.html, "Women control consumer spending by a wide margin in virtually every consumer category." (Women's control over spending, adds Farrell, gives women control over TV programs.)
“There were fewer cases charging sex-based wage discrimination last year than the year before the [Ledbetter law] was signed, and the wage gap was wider in 2010 than it was in 2007.” -BusinessWeek, May 13, 2012
Excerpted from "Will the Ledbetter Act Help Women?" at http://malemattersusa.wordpress.com/2011/12/03/will-the-ledbetter-fair-pay-act-help-women/
Mitt Romney has had the biggest non-campaign I've ever seen. What is he running on exactly? He says the economy and jobs but has not proposed how to improve the economy or made a clear proposition on how to create jobs. He has spouted some rhetoric and pretty much tried to just lay low. He doesn't even have the balls to discuss issues like Republican Social Issue Propaganda like women's health (FYI Republican's don't think women should have uterus's) or gay marriage rights (FYI Republican's are really really against that). He doesn't even have to believe the crap he says he just needs to say it to make the GOP overlords happy. So he can't even back an issue on the side of his own base? This guy is like a modern day Richie Rich Charlie Brown.
Romney has fallen for the bullying tactic that has been fired at him. The idea that a republican candidate can't get off the ground without the mega-church voting bloc.
As Francis Schaeffer put it -- the xtian right is the village idiot. The government does not have to cater to the whims of the village idiot.
Bullies are cowards and only grow testes when they can get a group behind them.I.E. four guys to hold a homosexual down and Willard to cut his hair.. Who's the real feminine wooses!!!!! At lest the others have a concience and memory of the inhuman act against another human being. Oops there is that word concience. You have one vote don't waste it on someone you have no respect for, you will be sorry for the rest of your life and your childrens' life ....................