Bryan Fischer
Governor Flip, Speaker Flop
By Bryan Fischer
Mitt Romney, whom, inspired by James Carville, I have affectionately dubbed "Governor Windsock," is a notorious political panderer. He literally will say anything to get elected. A 1994 video has surfaced which perfectly illustrates this, and indicates that Romney has, well, always been Romney.
In the video, Romney, running for the Senate against Ted Kennedy, is interviewed by a teenage kid. Some kind of tuneless music is playing in the background, and the kid asks Romney whether he likes it.
Romney, true to his only political principle, tickling itching ears, says, "I like music of almost any kind, including this." Romney has never met a political position he did not like, which makes him loyal to none. Politically, he's a serial adulterer and one never knows when he will betray his latest inamorata.
Newt Gingrich, I am discovering, is, if anything, a worse panderer than Mitt Romney. But he's glib enough to make uncritical folk think he's the truest conservative who has ever walked the earth. He has an almost Svengali-like ability to make undiscerning Tea Party types swoon.
But Newt, like Mitt, has been on almost every side of every issue. He was for embryonic stem cell research before he was against it, he was for Freddie Mac (maybe because Freddie was stuffing his pockets with two million bucks) before he was against it, he was for the individual mandate (maybe because the health industry was stuffing his think tank with 37 million bucks) before he was against it, he was for carbon caps before he was against them, he was for the Nancy Pelosi couch ad before he was against it, and the beat goes on.
His latest flipperoo comes on the most serious issue of all, the sanctity of human life. He did a 180 in the space of about 24 hours, first telling Jake Tapper of ABC that he did not believe an embryo was even "pre-human" until it was implanted in the mother's womb. This, of course, would logically require him to support the Plan B abortifacient, which aborts a baby by preventing implantation. It would be okay with Newt to abort a baby as long as you can get to it quick enough.
But he instantly and rightly got hammered by pro-life groups, and yesterday immediately started singing a different tune, affirming a new-found and principled belief that life begins at conception after all.
So at the head of the GOP pack right now we have Governor Windsock and Speaker Weathervane, each outdueling the other to see whose head can swivel the fastest. You can get dizzy just watching them gyrate.
The truth is that neither Romney nor Gingrich is a principled conservative. It's arguable that Gingrich is the least conservative candidate in the GOP race, less conservative even than Romney, an assessment heretofore thought impossible. That's because both seem to be driven by political ambition rather than political conviction.
Romney's platform consists solely of one plank, "Elect me, I'll take a principled stand for you just as soon as I figure out what you want." Gingrich's platform consists likewise of one plank, "Am I the most transformative politician in history, or what?"
The Scriptures famously say that pride goes before a fall, and that God is opposed to the proud. If those words are true, Newt and his massive ego may be in for some unpleasant surprises.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
December 6, 2011
Mitt Romney, whom, inspired by James Carville, I have affectionately dubbed "Governor Windsock," is a notorious political panderer. He literally will say anything to get elected. A 1994 video has surfaced which perfectly illustrates this, and indicates that Romney has, well, always been Romney.
In the video, Romney, running for the Senate against Ted Kennedy, is interviewed by a teenage kid. Some kind of tuneless music is playing in the background, and the kid asks Romney whether he likes it.
Romney, true to his only political principle, tickling itching ears, says, "I like music of almost any kind, including this." Romney has never met a political position he did not like, which makes him loyal to none. Politically, he's a serial adulterer and one never knows when he will betray his latest inamorata.
Newt Gingrich, I am discovering, is, if anything, a worse panderer than Mitt Romney. But he's glib enough to make uncritical folk think he's the truest conservative who has ever walked the earth. He has an almost Svengali-like ability to make undiscerning Tea Party types swoon.
But Newt, like Mitt, has been on almost every side of every issue. He was for embryonic stem cell research before he was against it, he was for Freddie Mac (maybe because Freddie was stuffing his pockets with two million bucks) before he was against it, he was for the individual mandate (maybe because the health industry was stuffing his think tank with 37 million bucks) before he was against it, he was for carbon caps before he was against them, he was for the Nancy Pelosi couch ad before he was against it, and the beat goes on.
His latest flipperoo comes on the most serious issue of all, the sanctity of human life. He did a 180 in the space of about 24 hours, first telling Jake Tapper of ABC that he did not believe an embryo was even "pre-human" until it was implanted in the mother's womb. This, of course, would logically require him to support the Plan B abortifacient, which aborts a baby by preventing implantation. It would be okay with Newt to abort a baby as long as you can get to it quick enough.
But he instantly and rightly got hammered by pro-life groups, and yesterday immediately started singing a different tune, affirming a new-found and principled belief that life begins at conception after all.
So at the head of the GOP pack right now we have Governor Windsock and Speaker Weathervane, each outdueling the other to see whose head can swivel the fastest. You can get dizzy just watching them gyrate.
The truth is that neither Romney nor Gingrich is a principled conservative. It's arguable that Gingrich is the least conservative candidate in the GOP race, less conservative even than Romney, an assessment heretofore thought impossible. That's because both seem to be driven by political ambition rather than political conviction.
Romney's platform consists solely of one plank, "Elect me, I'll take a principled stand for you just as soon as I figure out what you want." Gingrich's platform consists likewise of one plank, "Am I the most transformative politician in history, or what?"
The Scriptures famously say that pride goes before a fall, and that God is opposed to the proud. If those words are true, Newt and his massive ego may be in for some unpleasant surprises.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
