Video Of The Day: The Real Romney?

by John Hawkins | January 11, 2007 8:42 am

This is footage of Mitt Romney when he was debating Ted Kennedy back in 1994 and there are a lot of cringeworthy moments that will greatly trouble conservatives:

Romney has already responded to this video[1], but if you’re looking for a profound explanation, you’re going to be bitterly disappointed:

“Well, I just got a look at the excerpts from my debate against Ted Kennedy in 1994. It reminded me of why I ran against him in the first place. Someone had to give him a run for his money.

“Now, it also shows what 13 years will do. I’m grayer. I’m a little heavier. And I hope I’ve grown a bit wiser as well.

“Of course, I was wrong on some issues back then. I’m not embarrassed to admit that. I think most of us learn with experience. I know I certainly have.”

Romney then goes on to talk about some of the conservative things he did as Governor of Massachusetts.

The problem is that this video doesn’t show Romney as say, just a college kid spouting off, it shows him as a candidate for the US Senate. So presumably, had he actually beaten Kennedy, he would have actually been governing in the Senate as another Arlen Specter or Lincoln Chafee. Yet today, in 2007, Romney is telling everyone who will listen that he’s a Reagan conservative. But obviously, he’s not a movement conservative. To the contrary, he comes across as a politician who has changed his positions because he needs to appeal to conservatives if he wants to get the Republican nomination for President and it’s hard not to be leery of pols like that because conservatives keep getting burned by them over and over again. See “Conan the Socialist” in California for a perfect example of a guy who originally came in talking like a conservative, but is now actually governing to the left-of-center.