McCain on Romney

I just spent an enjoyable and instructive couple of hours reading a portion of US Sen. John McCain's (R,AZ) internal campaign dossier on Mitt Romney, which was compiled by McCain's people in 2008 during the previous presidential cycle when the two were competing against each other for the Republican nomination. The document recently leaked and was published on the Internet.

The entire document is 200 pages long and covers in detail, with relevant quotes and policy decisions, Mitt Romney's changing positions on a vast range of issues that arose throughout his career. I wish I could have read the document in its entirety, but I got tired and after 50 pages, the pattern became clear enough. Obviously, this book was not written to praise Romney, but rather to bury him. Nevertheless, it was not written in a polemic style. Instead, the issues were presented in an orderly fashion and consisted entirely of actual positions and statements made by Romney over many years.

The result, I am sorry to say, confirms what I have long believed about Romney: he can and will readily change positions to suit his needs and circumstances. There are no fixed positions; the important thing is to win, and pretty much anything you need to say or do to get there is fair game.

Speaking of fair game, one of the most amusing sections dealt with Mitt's history as a gun owner and hunter. To attract this constituency, Mitt asserted that he owned guns and went hunting all his life. Reporters and researchers relentlessly pursued Romney on this subject. It is funny as hell to read his qualifications and explanations as he backtracks over time. Eventually, they get him to admit that he actually doesn't own a single gun or rifle, though he started by flatly saying he owned guns. It turned out his son owned a gun and kept it in one of Mitt's houses. Similarly, he confessed he went hunting only twice in his life-- once as a teenager and then more recently at some bigwig meeting. They showed he never got a single hunting license in his life. No problem, responded Mitt, he only hunted small varmints like squirrels.

There is nothing wrong with changing one's position on issues over time as circumstances change and one's thinking evolves. It can be a sign of growth and maturity. In Romney's case, however, it is simply opportunism and political expediency. You waste your valuable time taking what he says seriously.