A Partial Guide To Mitt Romney's Flips and Flops

Bryan Preston of Pajamas Media has passed along a YouTube video of a compilation of Mitt Romney’s previous statements about a number of issues, in a helpful aid to keep track of the various positions he has taken on a variety of topics – a way to keep the flips separate from the flops.  Some of the quotes are:

I have been very clear on that: I will preserve and protect a woman’s right to choose, and I am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard.  I will not change any provisions of Massachusetts’ pro-choice laws. . . .  I will preserve them, I will protect them, I will enforce them. (Shannon O’Brien – Romney is not pro-choice, he is not anti-choice, he is multiple choice.)

I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country.

Look, I was an Independent during the time of Reagan-Bush.  I’m not trying to return to Reagan-Bush.

I believe that public companies and federal agencies should be required to report in their annual 10K the number of minorities and women by income group within the company . . .

(Robin Roberts – Do you believe that there should be a timetable in withdrawing the troops [from Iraq]?)  There is no question but that the President and Prime Minister al-Maliki have to have a series of timetables and milestones that they speak about.

I believe that the world is getting warmer.  I can’t prove that, but I believe based on what I read that the world is getting warmer, and that, number two, I believe that humans contribute to that.  I don’t know how much our contribution is to that, because I know that there have been periods of greater heat and warmth in the past, but I believe that we contribute to that, and so I think that it is important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may well be significant contributors to the climate change and the global warming that we’re seeing.

I frankly wish that the last Congress would have dealt with the stimulus issue and that the president [Bush] could have signed that before leaving office.  I think that there is need for economic stimulus.  Americans have lost about $11 trillion in net worth, that translates into about $400 billion a year less spending that they’ll be doing and that’s net of additional government programs [sic] like Medicaid and unemployment insurance, and government can help make that up in a very difficult time, and that’s one of the reasons why I think a stimulus program is needed.

We do have tough gun laws in Massachusetts.  I support them.  I won’t chip away at them.  I believe that they protect us and provide for our safety.

For me the central issue is that people who are here illegally should be able . . . should not be prohibited . . . should be able to apply for a permanent residency for citizenship, that should not be prohibited.

(Charles Gibson to Romney at the New Hampshire debates in 2007 – ‘You used mandates in Massachusetts although you backed away from mandates on a national basis.’)  No, no – I like mandates.  The mandates worked . . . (Fred Thompson interrupts with ‘I beg your pardon?  I didn’t know you were going to admit that.  You like mandates.’)  Let me tell you what kind of mandates I like, Fred . . . (Thompson: ‘The ones you come up with.’ [laughter])

Keep these statements in mind as you try to assess where Romney stands at the moment, and as he criticises his opponents on their positions.  The sequence with Bill O'Reilly is well worth watching.