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Mitt Romney continues to make John Kerry look like the model of consistency. Yesterday, he came up with yet another position on abortion. Romney had previously said on multiple occasions during this campaign he favors a federalist approach to abortion rather than a "one size fits all" standard imposed on the whole nation, so once Roe v. Wade is overturned, individual states would be free to set their own policies. However, when asked yesterday if he supported the portion of the Republican platform calling for a Human Life Amendment, which would prevent states from making abortion legal, he said he did. At first, I thought Romney should get the benefit of the doubt, because you can support the Republican platform without agreeing with everything in it. But then I read the comments of Romney spokesman Kevin Madden, who said, "putting the decision back in the states" is what Romney supports "in the meantime." Now, there are plenty of people who support a gradualist approach. It is not contradictory to say that you think Roe should be overturned so that people and their legislators, not judges, can make abortion law through the democratic process in the meantime, even though you still ultimately desire outlawing the practice of abortion throughout the land. But if you're Mitt Romney and you've stated that one of your specific objections to Roe is that it imposes a "one size fits all" standard on the country, you're simply being disingenuous by then saying what you really support is a uniform standard. Liz Mair has some video of Romney's shift on this issue.

Meanwhile, in other Romney news, the New Hampshire Union Leader editorial page is skeptical of Romney's abortion views. And E.J. Dionne writes that Romney is essentially the leading Republican candidate, based on his strength in Iowa, while ignoring his weakness nationally and his failure to gain traction in South Carolina.

Hopefully, that will take care of my Romney posting for the day, but there's always the chance that he'll change his position a few times before lunch, so I offer no guarantees.

topics:
Abortion, Law