The blow-dry candidate

By Weekly Archive On Jan 22, 2008

The
only thing we’ve learned from the 2008 presidential primary so far is
that the Republican Party is in complete disarray.

And
no wonder. George W. Bush has left them so far down in the hole,
Republicans can’t figure out who’s going to lead them out of it: the
aging war hero, the Southern preacher, the TV lawyer, the
libertarian, the serial philanderer, or the used car salesman?
Democrats should get down on their knees and pray they pick the used
car salesman.

Mitt
Romney may have been born in Michigan, but as a presidential
candidate, he was made in Hollywood. Central Casting never came up
with a more perfect candidate: tall, handsome, perfectly coifed,
beautiful wife, five hunky sons, and no core beliefs.

Romney’s
flip-flops on the issues are legendary. For example, he used to
believe in the rights of women. In Massachusetts, as an unsuccessful
candidate for the U.S. Senate and, later, as a successful candidate
for governor, Romney said: "I respect and will protect a woman’s
right to choose. … Women should be free to choose based on their
own beliefs, not mine and not the government’s."

But
that was then and this is now. As candidate for president, Romney
insists he’s always been pro-life and now supports a constitutional
amendment to make abortion illegal.

Romney
also used to believe in gay rights. Again, running for Senate, Romney
pledged to be even more supportive of gays and lesbians than
long-time gay-rights champion Ted Kennedy. "For some voters, it
might be enough to simply match my opponent’s record in this area,"
he wrote members of the Log Cabin Club. "But I believe we can
and must do better." In order to appeal to conservatives as
candidate for president, Romney now opposes gays serving openly in
the military and supports a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex
marriage.

As
with gays, so with guns. As Kennedy’s Republican opponent, Romney was
pro-gun control and anti-assault weapons. But today he brags about
being a "lifelong hunter" (even though he only remembers
going hunting twice), a "lifelong member of the NRA" (even
though he only joined in 2006), and winning the endorsement of the
NRA when he ran for governor (except he didn’t). By his own
admission, Romney’s entire hunting career consists of shooting
varmints with a semiautomatic rifle.

The
candidate even has a hard time agreeing with himself. As governor,
Romney worked with Democrats to make Massachusetts the first state in
the nation to offer universal health care. Today, afraid of being
labeled a proponent of "socialized medicine," he doesn’t
even list the health-care plan as one of his accomplishments.

But
it’s on the issue of immigration that Romney has shown the most
"creativity." After doing nothing about illegal immigrants
while governor of Massachusetts except hiring a few to mow his lawn,
the old Romney began his presidential campaign by declaring President
Bush’s comprehensive immigration reform package a "reasonable"
solution. The new Romney sounds like the evil twin brother of Tom
Tancredo.

Ever
since his loss to Mike Huckabee in Iowa, Romney has made illegal
immigration the hallmark issue of his campaign: accusing Rudy
Giuliani of running a "sanctuary city"; criticizing
Huckabee for offering college tuition to top students whose parents
came here illegally; and condemning John McCain as the champion of
"amnesty" for all illegal immigrants. In a recent debate,
Romney heatedly denied using the word "amnesty" in an
attack ad on McCain. A couple of days later, when shown his amnesty
ad by George Stephanopoulos, Romney insisted he’d never seen it
before.

What
it all adds up to is that Mitt Romney has a serious credibility
problem on any issue. Where he stands today on guns, choice, health
care or immigration bears no resemblance to where he stood on the
same issues just one year ago. He believes in nothing. Or to be more
accurate, he believes in whatever is convenient at any given moment.

Any
other year, so transparent a candidate wouldn’t stand a chance of
winning the nomination. Primary voters would see through him and
reject him as phony. But this is 2008, when the other candidates have
their own problems. Huckabee has too narrow a base, Thompson never
caught fire, Giuliani waited too long, and McCain’s been around too
long.

Given
the competition, it looks like Mitt Romney could end up the
Republican nominee by default. Democrats should be so lucky.

Bill
Press is host of a nationally syndicated radio show and author of a
new book, "How
the Republicans Stole Religion."
You can hear "The Bill Press Show" at billpressshow.com.
His email address is: bill@billpress.com. His Web site is:
www.billpress.com.