Thursday, December 1, 2011

GOP Presidential Candidates Say Anything

Everyone agrees: Newt Gingrich may be polling strong now, but the man has a lot of “baggage.”

But former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, the GOP's now leading "not Romney" candidate, and Mitt Romney have a lot of baggage in common.

One of the most common gripes about Mitt Romney — if not the most common one — is that he lacks core values, and chooses positions based on political expediency, not sincere beliefs. A place to keep up with Mitt Romney's flip-flopping.


Mitt Romney Serial Flip Flops



Newt Gingrich Serial Flip Flops

The DNC put out a video (left) with a website MittvMitt.com to tell the Romney story - "two men trapped in one body."

The GOP's anti-Romney candidate, you might expect, would be someone of pronounced non-flip-flopping consistency.

Asked recently by Fox News why conservatives should prefer him over Romney, Gingrich tried to play up that image. "First of all, I have a lifetime record of being a consistent conservative," he said. Except that ... he doesn't.

Through the years, Gingrich has demonstrated a willingness to cravenly flip-flop in ways that might make Romney blush, as the video (left) put out by Ron Paul's campaign illustrates.

And as our own Joan Walsh put it, even his baggage has baggage.

Here are some of the most notable examples of Newt's flip flops:

Health-Insurance Mandate :

  • Flip: "Personal responsibility extends to the purchase of health insurance. Citizens should not be able to cheat their neighbors by not buying insurance, particularly when they can afford it, and expect others to pay for their care when they need it." — June 2007
  • Flop: "I am against any effort to impose a federal mandate on anyone because it is fundamentally wrong and I believe unconstitutional." — May 16, 2011

Cap-and-Trade:

  • Flip: "I think if you have mandatory carbon caps combined with a trading system, much like we did with sulfur, and if you have a tax-incentive program for investing in the solutions, that there’s a package there that’s very, very good. And frankly, it’s something I would strongly support.” — February 2, 2007
  • Flop: "A carbon cap and trade system ... would lead to corruption, political favoritism, and would have a huge impact on the economy." — April 21, 2008

Climate Change:

  • Flip: "I think is that the evidence is sufficient that we should move towards the most effective possible steps to reduce carbon-loading of the atmosphere." — April 10, 2007
  • Flop: “I actually don’t know whether global warming is occurring." — November 8, 2011

Paul Ryan's Budget Plan:

  • Flip: "I don't think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering. I don't think imposing radical change from the right or the left is a very good way for a free society to operate. .... [Paul Ryan's Medicare proposal] is too big a jump." — May 15, 2011
  • Flop: "I made a mistake. And I called Paul Ryan today, who's a very close personal friend and I said that. The fact is that I have supported what Ryan has tried to do on the budget." — May 17, 2011

Libya:

  • Flip: "Exercise a no-fly zone this evening ... Provide help to the rebels to replace [Qaddafi] ... All we have to say is that we think that slaughtering your own citizens is unacceptable and that we’re intervening. And we don’t have to send troops. All we have to do is suppress his air force, which we could do in minutes." — March 7, 2011
  • Flop: "I would not have intervened. I think there were a lot of other ways to affect Qaddafi ... I would not have used American and European forces." — March 23, 2011

Criminal Court Trials for Suspected Terrorists:

  • Flip: "Well, I think if [members of the Bush administration] believe they have enough evidence to convict [Jose Padilla], going through the process of convicting him and holding him, I suspect, may be for the rest of his life without parole would not be -- would hardly be seen as a loss. I think this administration is still wrestling with what are the real ground rules for dealing with people who are clearly outside of normal warfare? They're not wearing a uniform. They're not part of an army. They are openly threatening to kill thousands or even millions of people." — November 22, 2005
  • Flop: "Why would you take a Nigerian national who just tried to blow up a plane over Detroit ... Why would you take that person, put them in the American criminal justice system, give them an attorney, read them their Miranda rights? — January 4, 2010

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