On which issues is Mitt to the left of Bush?

[Beet]

I keep hearing about 'Moderate Mitt' but how is he more moderate than Bush? Obama is more moderate than Clinton on a slew of major issues ranging from health care to income and estate taxes. The only thing I can think of for Romney, is that he hasn't proposed privatizing social security, although he did propose privatizing part of it in his 2010 book, he hasn't mentioned it recently. On the other hand, Romney wants to voucherize Medicare, which Bush didn't, Bush didn't want to defund Planned Parenthood, and Bush supported comprehensive immigration reform, whereas Romney doesn't even support the DREAM Act. So I just think it's funny that Romney is now called moderate even though he's to the right of Bush, whereas Obama's positions where he's to the right of Clinton are simply assumed.

[Maxwell]

Mitt Romney is a protectionist in terms of trade, something Bush isn't.

[Beet]

Mitt Romney is a protectionist in terms of trade, something Bush isn't.

He said he wants to sign more free trade agreements with Latin America.

[Maxwell]

Mitt Romney is a protectionist in terms of trade, something Bush isn't.

He said he wants to sign more free trade agreements with Latin America.

But with China he's still doing this whole "I WILL LABEL CHINA A CURRENCY MANIPULATOR" dance that is one of Santorum's populist, economically left flanks.

He's a moderate on free trade at best, about where Obama is and probably to the left of Bush.

[Beet]

Mitt Romney is a protectionist in terms of trade, something Bush isn't.

He said he wants to sign more free trade agreements with Latin America.

But with China he's still doing this whole "I WILL LABEL CHINA A CURRENCY MANIPULATOR" dance that is one of Santorum's populist, economically left flanks.

He's a moderate on free trade at best, about where Obama is and probably to the left of Bush.

My only problem with this is that I can't tell if it's actually protectionism on his part or if it's simply anti-China demagoguery. The latter is a staple of the right (Hoekstra has the 'Debbie Spenditnow' ad, China has long been a target of the neocons, Bush came into office labelling it a "strategic competitor" and so on) and doesn't make him any more moderate in any sense. If there are solid stances on protectionism that extends to another country besides China then I suppose it's fair to count this as one of his moderate stances.

[Fritz]

On which issues has Mitt actually taken a single position that has never changed?

[Franzl]

On which issues has Mitt actually taken a single position that has never changed?

That he wants to be President. That hasn't changed.

[Biden 2024]

Everything

[Franzl]

Everything

Well the goalposts have been moved significantly. What counts as "moderate" wasn't moderate in Bush's time.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

I get the feeling that Mitt doesn't hold a deep and personal hatred of the forces of the left that W possessed. He has the willingness to be flexible because he doesn't hold very many deep political convictions.

[Fmr. Pres. Duke]

Everything

Well the goalposts have been moved significantly. What counts as "moderate" wasn't moderate in Bush's time.

Yes. The GOP of 2000 or 2004 was far different than the 2012 version.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Everything

Well the goalposts have been moved significantly. What counts as "moderate" wasn't moderate in Bush's time.

Yeah, well the Republican party doesn't have moderates any more. Chaffee, Jeffords, Weicker and so on all left the party. The Republicans used to have actual liberals, such as Javitts, LaGuardia, LaFollete, and so on, but of course they're all long gone.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

Correct. I'd also say that Obama is just slightly to the left of Ike/Nixon/Ford. If Cuomo or Warner wins the nomination in 2016, they'd be the most right-wing nominee since Davis in 1924.

[morgieb]

Socially Mitt is less of a firebreather than Bush and probably is somewhat socially liberal.

[Phony Moderate]

Mitt Romney is a protectionist in terms of trade, something Bush isn't.

Which is strange given that he claims on a regular basis to be in favor of free-market Capitalism.

Anyway, he seems to be less neoconservative (at least rhetorically) on foreign policy than Bush. I don't know what his views on social issues are as he seems to alter them every couple of days.

[GMantis]

I keep hearing about 'Moderate Mitt' but how is he more moderate than Bush? Obama is more moderate than Clinton on a slew of major issues ranging from health care to income and estate taxes. The only thing I can think of for Romney, is that he hasn't proposed privatizing social security, although he did propose privatizing part of it in his 2010 book, he hasn't mentioned it recently. On the other hand, Romney wants to voucherize Medicare, which Bush didn't, Bush didn't want to defund Planned Parenthood, and Bush supported comprehensive immigration reform, whereas Romney doesn't even support the DREAM Act. So I just think it's funny that Romney is now called moderate even though he's to the right of Bush, whereas Obama's positions where he's to the right of Clinton are simply assumed.

But he supports Obama's de-facto implementation of DREAM.

[Lambsbread]

Socially Mitt is less of a firebreather than Bush and probably is somewhat socially liberal.

Yeah, this. Mitt's probably either socially apathetic or socially libertarian.

[old timey villain]

No, Mitt seems like a prude to me. He's not taking a strong social conservative stance because it's not to his advantage to do so, but I think he naturally possesses a very strong traditional view on social issues.

Did anybody else read that article about Mitt's neighbors in San Diego? Well, first of all, a lot of them hate him. I guess that happens when you try to quadruple the size of your house in a very small neighborhood. But anyway, one neighbor said that a police officer knocked on his door and requested that he report any pot smoking on the beach because, "one of your neighbors has complained." Obviously Mitt Romney. Another local guy said that Romney personally confronted him and told him not to drink on the beach. Not really a social libertarian approach.

I don't know how telling this really is, but IMO, while Romney may be willing to shelve social issues if it benefits him, he certainly isn't more moderate than other conservatives like Bush.

[Wonkish1]

I laughed at the notion that Obama is to the left of Bill Clinton on really anything.

1) You're talking about a guy that was very close to offering up a compromise on social security to allow private accounts in exchange for removing the cap on pay roll taxes(a deal I would take in a heart beat) and they were going to do something similar for Medicare. Than Lewinsky blew up and ended the negotiations. It was detailed in a book called "The Pact".

2) Obama is not to the left of Clinton on healthcare. Hillarycare was worse than Obamacare, but that isn't because of Obama's views. Instead it was because they were forced into it to get the votes. Obama's initial plans were to the left of Hillarycare. And Clinton didn't alter his health care plans because they figured out that they wouldn't be getting anything through.

3) I'm quite sure that Obama doesn't share really any different views that Clinton on estate taxes. The deal in 2010 was crafted the way it was because democrats know that the estate tax is not really much of a revenue generator. They would rather draw the line in the sand over the highest tax bracket than the estate tax because of the revenue differences.

Hell Clinton even came out recently arguing that our corporate tax rate is way to high and basically put together a very conservative argument as to why we should lower it.

Take a look at welfare reform as well. Take a look at regulation.

I mean I'm hard pressed to think of a single issue that Obama is to the right of Bill Clinton on except maybe his desire to not cheat on his wife.



If instead you mentioned that Obama might have some views to the right of Lyndon Johnson I probably wouldn't have scoffed as much, but Clinton...please. Clinton's been the most moderate Dem president in the history of the US by a huge margin.