Romney in 2008?

All of the "political stars" in the GOP, commented liberal columnist Mark Shields during PBS's coverage of the New York convention, are social liberals--pro-abortion, pro-homosexual "rights" and pro-civilian disarmament. Among those mentioned by Shields were California Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger, New York Governor George Pataki and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Rounding out that list was Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who is being marketed as a social conservative and the most attractive potential GOP standard-bearer in 2008.

"Mitt Romney is best known in the West as the 'white knight' who galloped in to save the Salt Lake City 2002 Winter Olympics from scandal-tainted problems and turned the event into an international success," wrote Deseret Morning News editor John Hughes (CFR) in a September 8 column in the Salt Lake City newspaper. Hughes noted that it is remarkable that Romney is expected to be re-elected governor with ease in 2006, "for Romney is a conservative, Republican Mormon in a state [that is] liberal, Democratic, with a significant Roman Catholic population.... Indeed, some Boston pols are suggesting that Romney might be whisked away [soon] for a Cabinet post in a second-term Bush administration ... [and] he surely is being talked about as a contender in 2008."

Romney's success in "saving" the corruption-tainted 2002 Winter Olympics was made possible by $1.5 billion in federal subsidies--an amount that worked out to $625,000 per athlete, as Sports Illustrated pointed out. "It's not pork," Romney insisted in an interview with the Ogden (Utah) Standard-Examiner. "You can't hold the games without it."

As governor, Romney has supported an anti-homosexual "marriage" amendment, but in doing so has sabotaged the effort to impeach that state's rogue supreme court justices--an approach that would address that issue much more effectively. He's also an outspoken supporter of abortion on demand. During a Senate contest against Ted Kennedy 10 years ago, Romney actually tried to flank the socialist solon to the left on social issues. He promised homosexual pressure groups that he would "seek to establish full equality for gay and lesbian citizens" through a federal employment civil rights act for homosexuals and integration of sodomites into the military. During the same campaign he also endorsed participation of homosexuals in the Boy Scouts, and applauded a federal ban on private ownership of "assault" weapons.