2012 Presidential Election, Flip-flop | featured news

How, other than an assumption that voters are too dim to remember what Mr. Romney has said across the years and months, to account for his breathtaking ideological shifts? He was a friend of immigrants, then a scourge of immigrants, then again a friend. He was a Kissingerian foreign policy realist, then a McCain-like hawk, then a purveyor of peace. He pioneered Obamacare, he detested Obamacare, then he found elements in it to cherish. Assault weapons were bad, then good. Abortion was okay, then bad. Climate change was an urgent problem; then, not so much. Hurricane cleanup was a job for the states, until it was once again a job for the feds.

Mitt Romney promised today he would govern as a "pro-life president" less than 24 hours after telling an Iowa newspaper he saw "no legislation with regards to abortion that I'm familiar with that would become part of my agenda."

When asked whether the nation has a responsibility to provide health care to the 50 million Americans who do not currently have coverage, the Governor responded: “... If someone has a heart attack, they don’t sit in their apartment and die. We pick them up in an ambulance, and take them to the hospital, and give them care...”

“I’m not getting rid of all of health care reform,” Mr. Romney said, while emphasizing that he planned to replace the president’s plan with his own. “There are a number of things that I like in health care reform that I’m going to put in place. One is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage.”

Paul Ryan has dutifully set aside some key positions to support Mitt Romney's. It's something most vice presidential candidates have to do, but still opens him up to attacks as a flip-flopper.

A week and half after saying most Americans "probably aren't going to fall in love with Mitt Romney," House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Tuesday revised his sentiments and predicted that people are going to be "enthusiastic" about the GOP presidential nominee come November. "Listen, I'm going to be enthusiastic about voting for Gov. Romney in November," Boehner told Capitol Hill reporters. "And I think the American people will be enthusiastic about voting for Gov. Romney in November."

Mr. Romney's remarks, made in a hastily arranged interview with CBS News on a national holiday, prompted renewed criticisms that he was willing to adjust his views for political expediency. Two days earlier, his chief spokesman and senior strategist had said that Mr. Romney did not believe the mandate should be called a tax.

A determined Rick Perry announced Wednesday he will not abandon his presidential campaign despite a fifth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses....

A day after he refused to endorse an Ohio ballot measure that limits public employee union rights, Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney said Wednesday that he is "110 percent" behind the effort.