Romney Masters The Arts Of Flip-Flopping & Fence-Straddling

There was a time when Mitt Romney was considered a moderate and almost rational Republican, but that time has long passed. Today Romney is one of those politicians who wants to have his cake and eat it too -- and he has learned the art of the flip-flop.

When he was governor of Massachusetts he celebrated and bragged about passing a health care insurance bill that would extend health insurance to nearly all residents of Massachusetts. But that was before President Obama passed a nearly identical health care bill and the teabaggers became incensed. Now Romney is busy trying to claim that his bill was nothing like Obama's (a lie) and he would never do such a thing again (a flip-flop).

Romney has also done a flip-flop on the issue of abortion. When governor of Massachusetts he was definitely pro-choice. But now that he's running for president in a party controlled by teabaggers, he has suddenly discovered that he is now an anti-abortion proponent. His former position is just not acceptable in the modern Republican Party.

After mastering the art of the flip-flop, Romney is now trying to learn the even harder political act of being on both sides of the fence at the same time (and he seems to be doing it very well). The issue he's chosen for this is gay rights.

Romney claims he is in favor of gay rights. He said, "I read now and then that I've changed my mind on gay rights. It's simply not true. I'm in favor of gay rights." Sounds great doesn't it? But then he continues, "But I believe marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman." So he's in favor of gay rights -- just not rights equal to those enjoyed by all other Americans. That's some pretty fancy fence-straddling.

It's seems that Romney is in favor of gay rights -- except when he isn't. That's clear enough (not).

NOTE -- The above cartoon is by Steve Sack in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

U.S. Supports U.N. Gay Rights Declaration

Last December, the Bush administration once again proved they really didn't believe in human rights, especially if it might upset the bigots in their right-wing base. Bush made the United States the only Western government to not sign a United Nations declaration calling for the worldwide decriminalization of homosexuality.

The declaration was signed by Japan, Mexico, Australia, all 27 European Union members and over 30 other countries, but not by the United States. Well, that is changing. Sources within the Obama administration say the United States will now sign the declaration and has asked to be added as a sponsor. As soon as Congress has been notified, the announcement will be made.

An anonymous administration official said, "The United States is an outspoken defender of human rights and critic of human rights abuses around the world. As such, we join with the other supporters of this statement and we will continue to remind countries of the importance of respecting the human rights of all people in all appropriate international fora."

He went on to say, "In the words of the United States Supreme Court, the right to be free from criminalization on the basis of sexual orientation 'has been accepted as an integral part of human freedom'."

Thank goodness George Bush is gone, and the United States can once again be a leader in establishing human rights around the world.