|
The New York Times
GOP Group Targets
Romney in New TV Ad
By AP from
nytimes.com on the Web, October 4, 2007
WASHINGTON -- A Republican
organization that advocates gay rights is targeting GOP presidential candidate
Mitt Romney in an ad campaign, seeking to undercut his support among social
conservatives by highlighting his past statements in support of abortion rights.
Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, has spent months courting social
conservatives in key primary states, trying to erase doubts about his previous
moderate stands.
But in a 30-second television ad that will air in Iowa and on national cable,
the Log Cabin Republicans use clips from a debate during Romney's unsuccessful
1994 campaign for U.S. Senate from Massachusetts to portray him as an enemy of
religious conservatives.
''For years he's fought conservatives and religious extremists,'' an announcer
declares.
On the screen, Romney, 13 years younger, is shown in the midst of a debate with
Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, whom he was seeking to unseat.
''I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country,'' Romney
says. ''I believe that since Roe v. Wade has been the law for 20
years that we should sustain and support it.''
Romney has said he changed his view on abortion after a November 2004 meeting
with a Harvard stem cell researcher. He said he became convinced he could
not be publicly supportive of abortion rights while being personally opposed to
abortion.
''As Governor Romney has repeatedly made clear, like many other Republicans
including Ronald Reagan, he wasn't always pro-life,'' Romney spokesman Kevin
Madden said. ''Governor Romney has said he was wrong and hopes he never
stops learning from his mistakes or trying to do what's right.''
Madden accused the Log Cabin Republicans of favoring Republican Rudy Giuliani,
the former mayor of New York who has supported abortion rights and some gay
rights. Leading religious conservatives have voiced their opposition to
Giuliani's candidacy.
Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon said his group is not endorsing any candidate
in the Republican primaries. Though he has said in the past, that Giuliani
is ''a very strong leader with an inclusive record.''
''Governor Romney supports a federal marriage amendment and so it makes sense
that a national gay rights group would attack him,'' Madden said.
During the campaign, Romney has supported a plank in the 2004 Republican Party
platform that called for the repeal of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme
Court ruling that established a constitutional right to abortion. He has
brushed off questions about his abortion views, stating: ''I'm pro-life;
it would be great if we could just leave it at that.''
The ad's narrator states that Romney ''opposed the gun lobby, even Ronald
Reagan.''
In a clip of the same 1994 debate with Kennedy, Romney states: ''I was
independent during the time of Reagan-Bush, I'm not trying to return to
Reagan-Bush.''
The narrator concludes: ''A record of fighting the religious right.
A pro-choice record. Massachusetts values. Mitt Romney.''
Though placed by a gay rights advocacy group, the ad is silent on Romney's views
of homosexuality. Lately Romney has been running a radio ad casting
himself as the only major GOP candidate backing a constitutional amendment to
ban same-sex marriage. His critics have argued that his views were not as
definitive when he was Massachusetts governor.
''The bottom line is this is much more than about gay rights,'' Sammon said in
an interview. ''He has been all over the map on every single issue.
He quite frankly hasn't credibly explained his shifting positions.''
|
