Mitt Romney's Dick Swett Problem May Have Forced Him from GOP Race

Mitt Romney Quits Presidential Race

The reason former Governor Mitt Romney's campaign failed, in my estimation, is a lack of genuine conviction. As reported by the Boston Globe, Romney said during a debate against Ted Kennedy in 1994 that he would be stronger on gay rights then the diehard liberal Kennedy. You can't sit there and say in 1994 that you were an independent and did not support much of the Reagan-Bush agenda and expect to win a Republican primary. Watching Romney say that Reagan would have endorsed his presidential candidacy during the most recent Republican debate at the Ronald Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, was laughable given Romney moderate-to liberal record on social issues.

Romney also admitted to voting for former Democratic Senator Paul Tsongas during a presidential primary in 1992. Romney chalked that vote up to home state pride saying that he did not necessarily endorse Paul Tsongas's agenda. Romney also gave money to Dick Swett's congressional re-election campaign according to newsmeat.com in the early 90's. The headlines of earlier in this campaign about Mitt Romney's Dick Swett problem are enough to get a sophomoric laugh.

The viewpoint that I'm trying to convey is the fact that Romney did not seem to want to admit his past. With Huckabee on taxes and education spending, McCain on global warming and Rudy on abortion and gay rights they all admitted that they didn't always agree with the GOP base. Romney acted like he had simply just gotten smarter and completely changed a plethora of stances in a mere fourteen years. He didn't want to speak about his record and every time someone called him on it he considered a "personal attack." The Political Action Committee Republicans for Choice even made the decision to use their resources this cycle to attack Romney on his past pro-choice views and then switching to the pro-life squad.