Mitt Romney: Gay Couples Raising Kids Is "The American Way"

In context, the quote isn't all that outrageous.

"I am a gay woman and I have children. Your comment that you just made, it sort of invalidates my family," said Cynthia Fish, a mother of a 6- and 8-year-old. "... I wish you could explain to me more, why if we are sending our troops over to fight for liberty and justice for all throughout this country, why not for me? Why not for my family?"

Romney paused, asked Fish about her children and then praised her.

"Wonderful," Romney said. "I'm delighted that you have a family and you're happy with your family. That's the American way. ... People can live their lives as they choose and children can be a great source of joy, as you know. And I welcome that."

But then Romney repeated his view of marriage. [Ed.-- "But"?]

"Marriage is an institution which is designed to bring a man and woman together to raise a child and that the ideal setting for society at large is where there is a male and a female are associated with the development and nurturing a child," Romney said.

The former Massachusetts governor acknowledged other scenarios that raise children.

"There are other ways to raise kids that's fine: single moms, grandparents raising kids, gay couples raising kids. That's the American way, to have people have their freedom of choice," he said.

Romney does seem to have a habit of glibly wrong-footing it in an effort to pander to virtually anyone he's speaking to. The various parts of this statement seem hard to reconcile. If it's so wonderful this gay woman is raising kids, why not extend marriage to her? And if it's so important to preserve the traditional family, why praise hers as "wonderful" and "the American way"?

I certainly wouldn't have insulted the woman, and I'm not suggesting Romney should have. But I keep getting this read off Romney that his superficial positions have absolutely no intellectual undergirding to them. Eggshell conservativism -- the surface is smooth and cool, but be careful not to apply any pressure to it, else it crack and spill out a big gooey mess.

Video of Luntz's Focus Groups: At Hot Air.

Romney's credited as being in-command and up-front. I just can't help but imagine that's 90% simply because he's saying stuff Republicans agree with. And had Giuliani chosen the same road, he'd likewise be credted as in-command and up-front, and his flip-flops would have been entirely forgotten.

Am I saying most Republicans are dumb? No, of course not. I'm saying most people are dumb, period. We're all morons here, but, frighteningly enough, we're among the best-informed and most critically-thinking morons in this whole moronic country.

On The Other Hand... It's pretty clear to me that the MSM loathes Romney with nearly BDS-level hatred, which is a definite plus in his favor.

Why do they despise him so? Well, most importantly, he's the most socially conservative (as far as stated current positions) of leading candidates. There's a small element of additional hatred due to their belief that he doesn't really believe half the stuff he's saying. They don't mind when, say, Edwards clearly panders to the left, but goshdarnint, does it discomfit them when they believe someone is pandering to the right.

I also think they believe he's a dim-bulb, so they have their typical I'm-smarter-than-them bias.

They tend to think every Republican is either dumb, crazy, evil, out-of-touch or all four, of course. I mean:

Eisenhower: Dumb, out-of-touch

Nixon: Crazy, evil

Reagan: Dumb, crazy, evil, out-of-touch

Bush the Elder: Dumb, out-of-touch

Bush the Younger: Dumb, crazy, evil, out-of-touch

In that last respect, Bush can claim to be truly Reaganesque, at least in the media's opinion.

At any rate, I don't want to be too down on Romney. He's an acceptable candidate and has, it seems, a fair amount of managerial talent and energy. (Something I'm looking for after six and a half years of Bush's inattentive governnance.

I just wish he'd do a better job of not merely regurgitating what he supposedly believes, but recite why he believes it in a convincing and consistent manner.

Sort of like... Fred.

posted by Ace at 09:51 PM

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