A Stitch in Haste

Two quick data points on Mitt "Null Set" Romney:

First, Romney insists that his "conversion" — not flip-flop, mind you, but "conversion" — to a pro-life position is something that radical social conservatives should celebrate, not question:

"I proudly follow a long line of converts — George Herbert Walker Bush, Henry Hyde, and Ronald Reagan to name a few."
...
Two of Romney's rivals — Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Sam Brownback of Kansas — have questioned the former Massachusetts governor's record on abortion. Romney repeatedly vowed not to change state abortion laws and backed abortion rights as recently as 2 1/2 years ago, even though he insists he has always personally opposed the practice.

That's quite a fortuitously timed "conversion."

But, of course, to many if not most voters, on both sides of any issue, the myopia of "believe what I say, not what I said" is all too easily placated with such obviously disingenuous drivel. You practically have to flip-flop in the same sentence before anybody will notice or care.

Second, Romney is reinventing himself on the problem of pesky pardons:

Republican president candidate Mitt Romney, who denied every pardon or commutation during his term as Massachusetts governor, said Thursday a pardon for former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby deserves a close examination.
...
On the campaign trail, Romney often cites his record as governor in denying pardons or commutations. During his four years in office, 100 requests for commutations and 172 requests for pardons were filed in the state. All were denied.

Romney has said he refused pardons because he didn't want to overturn a jury.

Here we're a bit closer to that concept of flip-flopping in a single sentence (no pun intended). You either "closely examine" a pardon petition or you don't. You either have an unvarying policy or you don't. You're either honest about having such a policy, or you lie about it. Your moral compass is either functioning properly or a "null set."

There are two ways to be a politician: start with the policy question and frame the correct policy answer, or start with the political answer and work back to framing the correct political question. The fact that, almost without exception, the latter prevails over the former is why all politicians, especially Mitt Romney, are moral defectives.

---

(One postscript: Romney also recently flip-flopped on the all-important question — to Evangelicals and Mormons, that is — of where the Second Coming will occur.)