David Brooks provides some intelligent analysis in his latest column about Mitt Romney (remember, a stopped clock…). Without actually calling him a flip-flopper, he notes that Romney the governor is far different from Romney the presidential candidate. Romney the governor was a heterodox Republican–defender of abortion rights, enacter of universal healthcare. Now he rails against abortion and accuses Hillary of being a Marxist. And he sounds like a phony.
His stump speech features generic Republican lines that could be uttered by any candidate at any time, almost as if they were originally designed for someone else and implanted onto him.
[snip]
Somehow the Romney campaign seems less like an authentic conservative campaign than an outsider’s view of what a conservative campaign should be.
Brooks goes on to say that the Romney campaign would do better “if it let the real Mitt Romney out to play” but that ignores the dynamics of the modern GOP and its captivity to the Christian right and anti-tax crowd. Romney the governor would be a formidable opponent in the general election. Fortunately for Democrats, he couldn’t win the Republican nomination.
2 Responses to “David Brooks: Romney is a phony”
That’s the problem, Thomas. It’s not that Romney saw that he was “wrong on abortion”, but rather that his position was wrong for winning the early states in the GOP nomination process.
His position has nothing to do with his beliefs, and everything to do with his early campaign strategy. Remember this: if he should win the GOP nomination, you will see how quickly he tries to flip flop again in order to be competitive in the general election. Most Massachusetts voters could tell you: Mitt’s whatever you want him to be, and nothing more.
Something to say?
Though I think Romney is not the right person for this country, I see nothing wrong with his seeing he was wrong on abortion and changing his position.
Left by Thomas
August 12, 2007 at 5:30pm