Why do people assume that Romney’s a moderate pretending to be conservative?
But here’s a question. Why assume that the old moderate positions were the real ones and the new conservative ones are fake? Because he took the others first? So what? He simply said what he needed to say to win then, and he’s saying what he thinks he needs to say to win now. And here and there, we learn new things about those bygone days. Over the weekend, the Times reported that Romney and Bibi Netanyahu have been close buddies, almost soulmates, for 35 years. I don’t think he paraded that one around much while running against Ted Kennedy. So maybe he was lying then.
I always ask people this question: There was talk, after the Salt Lake Olympics from which he emerged a local hero, that he might run for office in Utah. He decided against it because he had lived in Massachusetts for a quarter-century and saw a clearer path there. So suppose he had run in Utah. Think he’d have been proabortion rights there, or passed a big health-care law? Obviously not. He’d have been whatever he had to be.
And this is my theory of Romney: He’s not conservative, but he’s not moderate either. Why people assume he must be one or the other is another puzzle, because there is a third choice, which is the correct one: none of the above. He’s everything, he’s nothing; he’s whatever he needs to be.
Blowback
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No way. A politician being a politician? Stop the presses.
John the Libertarian on April 10, 2012 at 8:33 PM
He’s not an ideologue, period.
changer1701 on April 10, 2012 at 8:33 PM
Its precisely the uncertainty of his ideology that worries so many of us conservatives.
vegconservative on April 10, 2012 at 8:37 PM
Because etched in my face is a sketch of my thoughts on that.
Knott Buyinit on April 10, 2012 at 8:37 PM
He’s pretending to be what he is. Extremely competent. He is the polar opposite of Barack Obama.
Basilsbest on April 10, 2012 at 8:38 PM
Read his lips…
ITguy on April 10, 2012 at 8:42 PM
And I don’t completely agree with that, either. Romney ran for governor of a liberal state where the legislature was bent on doing some pretty radical things. He did manage to moderate their extreme leftism and preserve things like private health insurance.
To some extent, sure, a politician needs to say what they need to say to get elected. But Romney has always been an influence to the right. The problem is that he ran in about the most liberal place in the country. Had he run in a more conservative place, sure, the results would have been much different. The only reason we talk about “Romneycare” is because the people and the legislature demanded some sort of health care solution for the 7% of the population that wasn’t insured and Romney found a way to do that with the least possible disruption to the 93% who had it and to the private health insurance providers.
I believe President Romney will reduce the size of the federal government. I believe President Romney will turn a lot of what the federal government does today over to the states to handle as they see fit. I believe President Romney will, as he says, undo the “government centric” society and give us our country back.
crosspatch on April 10, 2012 at 8:44 PM
He’s not: he’s a liberal pretending to be a moderate pretending to be a conservative. Obamacare is corporate socialism and so is Romneycare; they’re both liberals.
FloatingRock on April 10, 2012 at 8:45 PM
“The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind.” Which is exactly the problem.
Cindy Munford on April 10, 2012 at 8:46 PM
It’s time for people to get behind Ron Paul. I hope Santorum’s delegates will vote for Ron Paul in their upcoming caucus meetings. There is to much at stake to give up.
FloatingRock on April 10, 2012 at 8:49 PM
ABO.
At least Romney isn’t Obama and can be pressured into doing some of the right things. No hope for Barry, he’s rotten to the core.
obladioblada on April 10, 2012 at 8:49 PM
In a few years I suppose we’ll find out what he is. Regardless, he can’t be worse than Barack Obama!
ElectricPhase on April 10, 2012 at 8:49 PM
Aww shucks from being severely conservative to someone who is moderate to someone whose views are progressive, I think saying the base is ‘assuming’ is a bit of a stretch, Mr. Tomasky.
Hostile Gospel on April 10, 2012 at 8:49 PM
“Words are Wind.”
idesign on April 10, 2012 at 8:50 PM
“Moderates” can’t run to the left of Ted Kennedy for the Senate, only liberals can do that.
FloatingRock on April 10, 2012 at 8:50 PM
If he turns into a spineless prick whose ass we’re forced to reelect in 2016….I’m no longer absolutely sure about that. Which is a scary sentiment to have.
Hostile Gospel on April 10, 2012 at 8:50 PM
Ain’t happening, Lava Rock. Ron’s protecting Rand’s political future at this point, hence the kissy face routine with Willardbot.
ebrown2 on April 10, 2012 at 8:53 PM
I personally don’t give a damn what his previous positions were to get elected, we’re way past that. My only concern now is that he (or a ham sandwich) replaces the frickin Marxist that is deliberately tanking my country and laughing at me as he does it.
Tim Zank on April 10, 2012 at 8:56 PM
Yeah why would a progressive pretending to be a moderate pretend to be a conservative?
LegendHasIt on April 10, 2012 at 9:00 PM
How about because his whole political career was as a moderate leaning left and now he suddenly claims to be right of Barry Goldwater??
Warner Todd Huston on April 10, 2012 at 9:01 PM
He’s flexible.
jaime on April 10, 2012 at 9:03 PM
It’s becoming fun reading Tomasky. The panic is setting in.
He lays out exactly what some of us have been saying for months; Barry cannot paint Romney as a wingnut directly. He says Romney was a moderate in Mass and talked Conservative as a Presidential nominee, so you don’t know what’s authentic. But he doesn’t acknowledge that this didn’t matter for Barry.
Tomasky thinks guilt-by-association can work, but why? This didn’t matter for Barry, either.
I think Tomasky knows this. He’s totally shaken up by the current polls that shows 0′s likeable, but not trusted. He cites and actually links to articles that do not say what he claims they do, as if he’s banking on people to just take his word.
I think some proggies see a storm brewing;gas prices, Obamacare, inflation, unemployment. We’re in stagnation, and on the border of stagflation or deflation. That is markedly possible by mid-summer/fall. No way out at that point.
budfox on April 10, 2012 at 9:03 PM
ya’ll just keep falling for it. This stuff has been the talking points for a few days now. All the lefty talking heads have been singing this same note. You believe because you want to. It’s a fairy tale.
bluealice on April 10, 2012 at 9:06 PM
Oh, I feel much better about supporting Romney now.
imasoulman on April 10, 2012 at 9:10 PM
There is no truth to that, it’s a conspiracy theory.
FloatingRock on April 10, 2012 at 9:11 PM
A few years? We’ll know in a few months. I know already. I have that image of him, smiling so big, with Ted Kennedy there looking over him, as he signed that socialist health-bill in Massachusetts. He doesn’t have to be worse than Obama. Just being equal is bad enough.
rickv404 on April 10, 2012 at 9:14 PM
He didn’t say things. He did things. He governed. He signed legislation into law. And he defends that awful policy as “severely conservative.” That’s why.
besser tot als rot on April 10, 2012 at 9:17 PM
That applies to over 300 million people in this country.
besser tot als rot on April 10, 2012 at 9:17 PM
That is the standard? Capable of being “pressured into doing some of the right things?” That applies to even Obama. He signed the extension of the tax cuts afterall.
besser tot als rot on April 10, 2012 at 9:19 PM
Because of his record as governor of Massachusetts, as well as his public statements prior to running for POTUS. Duh.
Stoic Patriot on April 10, 2012 at 9:21 PM
Wow, is it just me or is the pro-Romney spin starting to get a bit weak?! LOL!
“Yeah so he’s a liberal flipflopper, so, you wanna fight about it?”
Buckshot Bill on April 10, 2012 at 9:29 PM
Alanis Morissette is studying you to learn what irony really is.
ebrown2 on April 10, 2012 at 9:33 PM
It is getting really hard to find a decent person to run for office, isn’t it….
ElectricPhase on April 10, 2012 at 9:34 PM
This is quite a dilemma for those who can’t distinguish between a venture capitalist and a community organizer. Paul Ryan had no trouble making the distinction but that isn’t good enough for you.
Basilsbest on April 10, 2012 at 10:00 PM
Sorry but a lifetime of having every opinion on every subject isn’t confidence building. You’re just going to have to learn to be happy that I’m voting for him. Adulation is not going to happen.
Cindy Munford on April 10, 2012 at 10:05 PM
Fify. Paul ryan is not my boss and does not have power to make decisions for me.
alwaysfiredup on April 10, 2012 at 10:15 PM
Some venture capitalists are far left Progressive types. We got rid of one of them in upstate NY in 2010.
Connie on April 10, 2012 at 10:24 PM
What I find is that many money makers don’t give two hoots about ideology as long as they continue to make money. This is why Romney can be the Goldman Sachs mini-me and float all over the place.
Connie on April 10, 2012 at 10:27 PM
Umm… because everything he’s done in public life has featured a big-government solution.
J.E. Dyer on April 10, 2012 at 11:03 PM
Rush finally covered the point I’ve been making at Hot Air:
Rush: He [RonMe] sounds just like you and me when we talk about it. He was very affirmative in his acknowledgement to me of the threats posed by Obama and the Democrats to this country. If you had been in that conversation, you would not have doubted his conservatism at that moment. But then you would read where he has said in years past, “Look, I’m not a conservative. I’m not one of these,” and you’d scratch your head. I’m not saying it wiped any of those other instances out. I’m just telling you that that day, he sounded like me.
Just as a dog returns to its vomit Sketchy will again return to his liberal roots. Bet on it.
DannoJyd on April 10, 2012 at 11:19 PM
No.
What is getting harder is finding Americans who will do the necessary research so they KNOW the candidates running instead of being LAZY pigs eating at the 0bamaGanda trough.
DannoJyd on April 10, 2012 at 11:22 PM