The American Spectator

The Corner once again weighs in on their “chosen one’s” abortion position. Romney certainly presents an interesting case regarding “evolved” positions on important moral issues.

In the WaPo item in question, the point seems to be made that the woman believed that Romney had been pro-life all along, but simply took the pro-death position because in order to have a shot at winning he needed to do so.

Some, including a few of Romney’s cheerleaders on other sites, have pointed to this kind of story as proof that Romney has been pro-life all along.

We think this story confirms the far more troubling aspect of the Romney campaign: that he appears willing to sell out his core convictions to win.

As we’ve reported, one of the key points recruiters for the Romney campaign have been using to woo supporters is that Romney will be far more reliable than Sen. John McCain in being true to conservative values: good on taxes, good on judicial nominations.

Yet, how can Romney’s people with a straight face use this line of argument, when their own candidate has appeared willing to surrender what social conservatives believe to be the most critical issue for an elected official — life — in order to win? With this sad track record, one has to wonder what Romney will do to, say, ensure his Supreme Court nominee is not filibustered (Harriet Miers, anyone?). Or what deal he would cut to ensure he gains a victory on a major healthcare reform bill (as he did in Massachusetts, where he could have fought to block taxpayer-funded abortions, but apparently chose not to, in order to preserve the potential for passage of the overall plan).

We’d be much bigger supporters of Romney’s if he’d just come out and say that his pro-death position was a purely mercenary one and that he was lying to the Massachusetts voters all along. That’s the kind of frank, honest talk that might actually help a candidate in a primary race where there is all too much pandering going on.

Our sense is that the conservartive base has probably had enough with compromisers and candidates willing to sell out their core values for a cheap, short-term victory.