2008 Republican Field Shuns the Snowmanposted by ericb at 9:24 PM on August 1, 2007"If there is one emerging difference between the Republican and Democratic presidential fields, it is the way they are embracing — or keeping their distance from — the communications revolution that is bubbling through the campaign season.
On Saturday in Chicago, the leading Democratic presidential contenders will show up for yet another debate, this one in front of an audience of liberal bloggers. Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Senator John Edwards, among others, are on the bill of the second YearlyKos Convention, and the schedule calls for them not only to debate, but also to meet with bloggers to answer questions one-on-one.
The event follows the debate this month in which the Democratic candidates answered questions posed by YouTube users. The Republicans are, shall we say, a little more tentative about the new media world. CNN and YouTube are struggling to get the Republican field to agree to a similar debate; one date in September had to be scratched after Mitt Romney and Rudolph W. Giuliani cited scheduling conflicts.
Mr. Romney described some of the YouTube questions as demeaning, singling out a question on global warming from a snowman. For now, the Republican field seems content to stay on the traditional road. They are debating Sunday morning on national television (“This Week with George Stephanopoulos” on ABC News) from Iowa.
You can be sure there will be no snowmen asking questions."
"Gov. Mitt Romney, the Massachusetts Republican who has built a presidential campaign on a broad appeal for conservative support, is drawing sharply increased criticism from conservative activists for his advocacy of gay rights in a 1994 letter.posted by ericb at 9:40 PM on August 1, 2007
Mr. Romney’s standing among conservatives is being hurt by a letter he sent to the Log Cabin Club of Massachusetts saying that he would be a stronger advocate for gay rights than Senator Edward M. Kennedy, his opponent in a Senate race, in a position that stands in contrast to his current role as a champion of a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.
‘We must make equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern,’ Mr. Romney wrote in a detailed plea for the support of the club, a gay Republican organization.
The circulation of the letter by gay rights groups in recent weeks has set off a storm of outrage among social conservatives, and by Friday was looming as a serious complication to Mr. Romney’s hopes.
Aides to Mr. Romney, who did not dispute the letter’s legitimacy, said that the governor’s opinions on gay issues had not changed. They said Mr. Romney had always been an opponent of same-sex marriage, had always opposed discrimination against gay men and lesbians and had been consistent in his views about allowing them to serve in the military.
‘Governor Romney believes Americans should be respectful of all people,’ said Eric Fehrnstrom, his spokesman. ‘However, over the past four years as governor, Mitt Romney has not advocated or supported any change in the military’s policies and he has not implemented new or special rights in this area.’
Mr. Fehrnstrom, echoing the language that Mr. Romney has frequently used on the campaign trail, said Mr. Romney had been ‘a champion of traditional marriage’ and ‘fought the efforts of activist judges who seek to redefine marriage.’
Nonetheless, the breadth of the letter’s language and the specificity of many of the pledges stunned conservative leaders. Many of them had turned to Mr. Romney as a conservative alternative to Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, whose position on issues like abortion had been considered suspect.
‘This is quite disturbing,’ said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, who had praised Mr. Romney as a champion of traditional values at the group’s conference in late September. ‘This type of information is going to create a lot of problems for Governor Romney. He is going to have a hard time overcoming this.’
Paul Weyrich, a founder of the modern conservative movement, said: ‘Unless he comes out with an abject repudiation of this, I think it makes him out to be a hypocrite. And if he totally repudiates this, you have to ask, on what grounds?’
The letter, and Mr. Romney’s effort to reconcile it with the way he had presented himself on the campaign trail, reflects what has been one of the central challenges facing him in his campaign: how to move from winning an election in one of the most liberal states in the union to becoming the presidential candidate of a party whose nominating process is dominated by social conservatives.
As it is, he has shifted his position on abortion rights. Last year, Mr. Romney wrote an op-ed article for The Boston Globe saying that his views had ‘evolved and deepened,’ and that he opposed abortion and thought decisions on its legality should be left to states.
The 1994 letter followed a meeting with the Log Cabin Club. Mr. Romney wrote, ‘I am not unaware of my opponent’s considerable record in the area of civil rights.
‘For some voters, it might be enough to simply match my opponent’s record in this area,’ he said. ‘But I believe we can and must do better. If we are to achieve the goals we share, we must make equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern. My opponent cannot do this. I can and will.’
Mr. Romney, recounting in the letter the promises he made in the meeting with the club, said he had agreed to help sponsor a bill barring discrimination against gay men and lesbians if he was elected to the Senate and to broaden it to include protections for housing and credit.
He said he supported the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ military policy created by former President Bill Clinton, and described it as ‘the first in a number of steps that will ultimately lead to gays’ and lesbians’ being able to serve openly and honestly in our nation’s military.’
Rich Tafel, who was the executive director of the club at the time, said he was stunned by what he described as the contrast between how Mr. Romney came across in their meeting and how he appeared on the campaign trail now.
‘I’ve never seen anybody change like this,’ he said. ‘It really does concern me.’
Viewed from some angles, Mr. Romney’s positions on gay rights seem consistent. He still says he opposes discrimination against gay men and lesbians and he always said he opposed same-sex marriage.
But his emphasis has shifted in the last two years. As he moves into this new phase of his career, Mr. Romney rarely talks about the need to protect gay men and lesbians from bias, instead presenting himself as a conservative stalwart in the fight against same-sex marriage, arguing that legally recognizing same-sex unions endangers the cultural support for heterosexual families.
The doubts being raised could improve the prospects of two fellow Republicans who have been seeking conservative support in bids for the presidential election: Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas." *
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posted by travis vocino at 8:27 PM on August 1, 2007