COMMENTARY | With Herman Cain contesting sexual harassment allegations, Newt Gingrich answering questions about his relationship to Freddie Mac and Ron Paul receiving little media exposure, most political analysts would agree that Mitt Romney will likely end up with the Republican presidential nomination.
Consequently, it is extremely important for Americans to have a clear understanding of former Governor Romney’s positions before they cast their votes on election day. Given Romney’s well-chronicled history of flip-flopping on fundamental issues, however, it can be nearly impossible to gauge exactly where he stands. For this reason, I have collected some quotes by Romney from recent GOP debates and past campaigns on major issues including abortion, climate change, health care and the economy.
I hope that these quotes will help to bring some clarity to his candidacy.
Abortion
* “I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20 years, it should be sustained and supported. And I sustain and support that law and support the right of a woman to make that choice.”
* “I will preserve and protect a woman’s right to choose and am devoted and dedicated to honoring my word in that regard.”
* “I am pro-life and believe that abortion should be limited to only instances of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. I support the reversal of Roe v. Wade, because it is bad law and bad medicine. Roe was a misguided ruling that was a result of a small group of activist federal judges legislating from the bench.”
Climate Change
* “I believe the world is getting warmer, and I believe that humans have contributed to that… It’s important for us to reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases that may be significant contributors.”
* “My view is that we don’t know what’s causing climate change on this planet. And the idea of spending trillions and trillions of dollars to try to reduce CO2 emissions is not the right course for us.”
Health Care
* “In Massachusetts … I was able to put in place a plan that helped get health insurance premiums down, and gets all of our citizens insured. If we can do that nationally, we help… the entire nation.”
* “At the time I crafted the plan [Health Care insurance plan] tin the last campaign I was asked is this something you would have the whole nation do, and I said no. This is something that was crafted for Massachusetts. It would be wrong to adopt this as a nation.”
Economic Recovery Act
* “I think there is need for an economic stimulus. Americans have lost about $11 trillion in net worth and government can help make that up in a very difficult time.”
* “I have never supported the President’s Recovery Act… No time, nowhere, no how have I supported the President’s stimulus.”
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