Any way you look at it, GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney showed a disturbing lack of moral clarity today on ABC's "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos.
When asked about his vote for Paul Tsongas, a Democrat, in the 1992 primaries, he offered this explanation:
"In Massachusetts, if you register as an Independent, you can vote in either Republican or Democratic primary.
"When there was no real contest in the Republican primary, I'd vote in the Democrat primary, vote for the person who I thought would be the weakest opponent for Republican.....
"I go in their primary, just like a lot of other folks, and voted against the person who I thought was the strongest Democrat....
"So, yes, as an Independent, I'll go in and play in their primary, but I'm a Republican and have been through my life."
This "playing in the primary" is called "raiding." The purpose is not to help to select the best candidates possible, but to frustrate the process.....dirty political tricks.
But, Romney gave another explanation for his vote for Democrat Tsongas 12 years ago. The Boston Globe reported on February 3, 1994 that Romney was giving this explanation for his vote for Tsongas... "he did so both because Tsongas was from Massachusetts and because he favored his ideas over those of Bill Clinton."
Well, that wouldn't be raiding, that would be voting for the best opponent (in Romney's opinion) to run against George Bush, Sr.
So which is it Mitt, are you a dirty-tricks raider, or lying to cover your support of Tsongas. Either way, it's a lose-lose.... and exposes your moral blind spots.
2 comments:
First, there is nothing contradictory here. We have a report from two Boston Globe employees as to why Romney voted for someone 15 years ago. There is no direct quote.
Second, I bet if you asked Scott Lehigh, Frank Phillips, or Mitt Romney that those weren't the only reasons why Romney voted for Tsongas (the fact that Tsongas was from Massachusetts, and that he was better than Bill Clinton). Do you vote for someone because of only two issues? You might only give two issues, when you have limited time, but no one votes for a candidate because of only two issues.
Third, why don't we take Romney at his word. He voted for Paul Tsongas because he liked him better than Clinton, and that he didn't think that he would win the general election against Bush? Are these somehow mutually exclusive.
Fourth, the democrats and MSM is going to take everything Romney ever said 10 years ago, tell us it, and then say "however today he says..." blank. They are going to use this tactic weather it contradicted the previous statement or not. They will use this tactic every time Mitt Romney does not repeat his previous statement verbatim.
Lastly, there was NO GOP PRIMARY in 1992. There was only one place to vote. As one political guru told me "he does it all the time".
One more thing. This also means Romney voted against Clinton twice!
more here: http://www.mymanmitt.com
Justin, I'm impressed with your quick response time to my post... 13 minutes. Are you part of Romney's "war room?"
Evidently as a Romney supporter, you also seem to think raiding is OK because some "do it all the time." Any justification you want to give it, it's still political dirty tricks and a perversion of the process.
As for no direct Romney quote, the BH reporters said "Romney confirmed he voted for former U. S. Sen. Paul Tsongas....." They interviewed Romney and reported on that interview.
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