Two great quotes from former Mitt Romney aides in the New York Times'
entertaining write-up of Romney's journey from being an ardently pro-choice Massachusetts Republican to a being a pro-life presidential candidate who thinks some forms of contraception should be banned (my emphasis):
“He was always uncomfortable on the issue, but he was penned in by having run as a pro-choice candidate in 1994 and by the political realities of Massachusetts in 2002,” said Rob Gray, a senior adviser to Mr. Romney’s campaign for governor. “It was made clear to him by advisers early on in his gubernatorial race that he had to be pro-choice, and he could not show any hesitation.”
And:
By 2005, with Mr. Romney eyeing a possible presidential bid, he began to distance himself from his abortion rights platform. “My political philosophy is pro-life,” he told National Review, a conservative magazine, in an article that June. That same article quoted his top strategist at the time, Mike Murphy, as saying Mr. Romney had been “a pro-life Mormon faking it as a pro-choice friendly.”
So, in his strategists' own words, Mitt Romney didn't flip-flop on abortion—he's been anti-choice all along. Sure, for more than a decade he said he was pro-choice, but wasn't what he really believed. And why did he lie for all those years? He was running for office, for Pete's sake. And why should anybody believe him on anything now? Because, uh, because ...
Michele Bachmann Rick Perry Herman Cain Newt Gingrich Rick Santorum sucks?