Via Soren Dayton, we learn that Mitt Romney has finally admitted that he used to be pro-choice.
I noticed this in the coverage of Romney’s visit to South Carolina and then again in his Nightline appearance. He is more clearly coming out and saying that he had been pro-choice. This is clearly an attempt defuse the issue. First Nightline:
We all learn from experience. And I’m just like other people in this nation. Not everything I believed 12 or 13 years ago is the same today, with regards to the issue of abortion. And so about two years ago, I said I am pro-life. And prior to that time, I had a different position.
This is a much cleaner and simpler position than he had previously. Apparently, he was asked about this in South Carolina too. He said:
“Over the last multiple years, as you know, I have been effectively pro-choice,” he said. “I never called myself that as a label but I was effectively pro-choice and that followed a personal experience in my extended family that led to that conclusion.”
That family member was killed in an illegal abortion in the 1960s, Romney said.
He then talks about the Harvard Stem Cell Institute discussion:
“It struck me very powerfully at that point that the Roe v. Wade approach has so cheapened the value of human life that somebody could think it’s not a moral issue to destroy embryos,” Romney said.
He added every decision he made as governor “in a very liberal state has been on the side of favoring life,” he said. “I am firmly pro-life.”
Dayton is right to note that Romney is trying to defuse his past support for abortion. But if you look closely at what Romney is saying, he has not yet explained what caused his conversion to being “firmly pro-life.” The stem cell explanation makes sense were Romney already of the mindset that embryos were human life, a position that his now admittedly pro-choice position makes it unlikely for him to have held.
Romney has confirmed something that everyone following this race and paying attention to his constant evolution towards a more conservative ideology already knew. Mitt Romney used to be pro-choice. While this admission may make it less likely for Romney staffers to call video of Mitt making pro-choice statements a distortion of facts, it isn’t going to change the fact that Romney is a recent convert.
Romney’s history on abortion isn’t just problematic because he supported abortion rights at one time in the past. The fear gripping the Republican base is that he will some at some point in the future again hold a pro-choice position. Flip-flopping in a documented and public way bolsters that fear and being honest about the change in mindset doesn’t do much to assuage that fear.
7 Responses to “Romney’s New Approach? Honesty”
[...] Romney’s New Approach? Honesty [...]
As with his initial denials that there’d ever been any change in his position on abortion, Romney has a habit of statements that are one shade shy of the truth. For example, can someone nail him down on this “relative dying from an abortion” schtick? In his ‘94 debate with Kennedy, he said she was a “close relative.” Now he says it happened in his “extended family.” I’ve read that in fact, she was not a relative at all, but the fiance of a distant cousin.
Right up there with his recent gunshow claim that “I’ve got a gun of my own,” followed moments later by his admission under pressure from reporters that he does not actually own a gun and was referring to a family member’s gun.
[...] Romney’s “No Principle Left Behind” campaign is really starting to become comical. What I don’t understand is why he isn’t just fully honest with all of his past moderate/Democratic positions and put this parade of unintentional humor behind him. He’s gotten close to that with his abortion views – it’s time he go whole hog with honesty. Doing so will effectively remove his status of low-hanging fruit for Democratic parody and allow for a serious conversation with Republican primary voters about what he wants to do now as a candidate. [...]
[...] Recent Comments Emboldened » Blog Archive » “Lifelong” NRA Member Romney on Romney’s New Approach? HonestyAndy on BREAKING: Paul Website Finally “Completed”Matt Browner Hamlin on BREAKING: Paul Website Finally “Completed”Andy on BREAKING: Paul Website Finally “Completed”The Right’s Field » Multiple Choice Mitt Strikes Again on “Multiple Choice Mitt” [...]
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[...] Abortion is just part of the social policy spectrum that he has historically been on the wrong end of for conservatives. Is it a big part? Sure, but it’s hardly the whole story and even this new tact won’t be enough for most social conservative voters. [...]
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January 30, 2007 at 8:23pm