Andrew Sullivan has posted an interesting video from the Democratic National Committee on several of the notable flip-flops by Mitt Romney. Remarkably, it was obviously made before the most recent exposure of his flip — or is it flop — on undocumented immigrants who are long-time residents of the United States. The DNC’s tactic here follows the time-honored tradition (mostly by Republicans, I think) of defining your opponent before he or she can establish a different view. It could also play a significant role in Iowa where Newt Gingrich’s recent effort to state his version of a humane policy may cause him some difficulty.
GOP primaries
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The big news in politics over the Thanksgiving weekend was the endorsement of Newt Gingrich by the New Hampshire newspaper The Manchester Union Leader. The Union Leader is known for its daily and enthusiastic pumping of its chosen candidate, and the equally vigorous thumping of his opponents. This is not good news for Mitt Romney, who calls New Hampshire one of his home states since he owns a lakeside “cottage” there in addition to homes in Massachusetts, Utah and California.
How meaningful is the paper’s anointing? According to Politico.com, they went for John McCain over Romney (and others) in 2008 before McCain carried the state’s primary. They were also an early endorser of Ronald Reagan when it mattered, as well as Pat Buchanan prior to their victories. On the flip side, they endorsed John Ashbrook, Pete DuPont and Steve Forbes. Perhaps the daily’s most notable contribution to primary politics was a news article critical of the wife of Ed Muskie, causing the then-front runner on the Democratic side to shed tears. While tears are almost de rigueur for a Republican these days, it was widely perceived as ending Muskie’s chance of obtaining the nomination.
The Union Leader‘s nod comes at a particularly propitious time for Gingrich since, as feared, his failure to adhere to the rigid anti-immigration orthodoxy of the conservative base has been a major threat to his candidacy. It may not be Romney, however, who will be able to pick up the pieces despite his increasingly strident talk on immigration. Politico‘s Alexander Burns, citing Bloomberg, blogged about a stance Romney took back in 2006 where he had a similar view to the one espoused by Gingrich, except that it was more “humane” in that it would have allowed undocumented immigrants to not only stay, but to get on a path to citizenship.
Mitt Romney has released his first television ad. It is troubling that in his initial effort out of the box he totally distorts what Barack Obama is saying. The statement “if we keep talking about the economy, we’re going to lose” is actually Obama during the 2008 campaign quoting John McCain. While Romney is no stranger to distorting facts, I had at least hoped this type of misrepresentation would not begin almost one year from the election. (The clip is copied from Andrew Sullivan’s blog today.)
On the same day that Herman Cain opined that the Taliban was going to be part of the new government in Libya, Mitt Romney joined the Republican StupidFest on the question of whether the Environmental Protection Agency should regulate carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas. According to The Boston Globe, Romney stated, “I exhale carbon dioxide, I don’t want those guys following me around with a meter to see if I’m breathing too hard.’’
Now perhaps Romney was channeling Ronald Reagan and his much-ridiculed statement that trees give off carbon dioxide, thereby obviating the need to do anything about pollution. Or maybe he wanted to join in the fun with his Republican competitors by showing that he too can make asinine statements, especially since someone like Herman Cain can stay near the top of polls without any evidence that he knows anything about anything a President should know.
Tom Noonan 