We were given an insight into that seemingly premeditated “no choice” in a New York Times article dated September 8, 2007. It reported that, during a 2002 meeting in a gay bar with Log Cabin Republicans, Romney “promised to obey the courts’ ultimate ruling and not champion a fight on either side of the issue”—a promise he most definitely kept, despite head fakes to gullible conservatives, pressing them to think he was crusading to protect marriage, children and defend the constitution.
I met with Governor Romney earlier this year with about 10 other people from Chicago. Impeccably dressed, he sat at the head of the table and gave a powerful presentation on his healthcare policies, taxes and, of course, how much he opposed homosexual marriage and its bad effects on children. When it came time to ask questions, I politely asked him why, in spite of his claims of opposition and concern, he had in fact been the one who began homosexual marriage in Massachusetts? —How was it that he ordered the rewording of marriage certificates and threatened state and local officials with firing if they did not comply?
He erupted in anger. He asked if I were an attorney and then volunteered emphatically: “I am a graduate of Harvard Law School!” An aide tried to calm him down, but he continued to accuse me of lying. “She’s not telling the truth,” he said. Those are the moments you are glad your reputation for honesty is firmly in tact—and that you have all the documents necessary to prove your accusation.
So when James Rappaport, former head of the Massachusetts Republican Party held a press conference recently to announce his endorsement of Rudy Giuliani, I could resonate with his observations. Rappaport, who served when Romney was governor, said Romney “has a strong record of showmanship as opposed to actual performance.” On his relationship with the State Legislature, “His word is no good … Mitt Romney would say one thing in a meeting and literally go out of the meeting to the press and tell the opposite story. There was no desire in the legislature to be accommodating to him because they couldn’t trust him…. Romney will be clear today on what he believes today, and he’ll be clear tomorrow on what he believes tomorrow, but they may be different things.”
Mitt Romney is a duplicitous man, and his most damning duplicity has brought about a sea change in marriage and family that our country may never recover from.
He may have had “no choice,” but I do.