A 1994 videotape
mysteriously posted on YouTube.com prompted Republican
Mitt Romney to declare Wednesday, ''I was wrong on some
issues back then,'' while also insisting to social
conservatives key to his presidential campaign that he
is one of them. The tape of a Senate debate between
Romney and Sen. Edward M. Kennedy showed Romney defending a
woman's right to abortion, saying he supported allowing gays
in the Boy Scouts, and distancing himself from former
president Ronald Reagan by noting he was a registered
independent during the period the conservative icon
was leading the nation.
All of the material has been previously
published, but its presentation in video
form--and on the easily shared YouTube
medium--prompted an immediate response from
Romney, who formed a presidential exploratory
committee last week. ''If you want to know where I stand, by
the way, you don't just have to listen to my words,
you can go to look at my record as governor,'' Romney
said during a late-day appearance on the Glenn and Helen
Show, a radio program featuring Tennessee
psychologist Helen Smith and her husband, Glenn Reynolds.
''Frankly, in the bluest of states, facing the
most liberal media in the country, I've led the fight
to preserve traditional marriage. I've taken every
legal step I could conceive of to prevent same-sex marriage.''
A tape of Romney's call was immediately posted
on YouTube. Asked whom the campaign suspected of
posting the tape, Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said,
''It doesn't matter. We used the very same media made
available to those seeking to attack Governor Romney
to set the record straight in his own words with the facts.''
In the 1994 tape, Romney is asked about abortion
rights and responds: ''One of the great things about
our nation is we're each entitled to have strong
personal beliefs, and we encourage other people to do the
same.... I believe that abortion should be safe and
legal in this country.'' Kennedy retorted that while
he was ''pro-choice,'' Romney was ''multiple choice.''
At another point, Romney was asked if he ever
publicly opposed the Boy Scouts' exclusion of gay
members while he served on its executive board. ''I
feel that all people should be allowed to participate in the
Boy Scouts regardless of their sexual orientation,''
Romney replied.
On a third point, Kennedy accused Romney of
harboring the same economic philosophy as Reagan and
former president George H.W. Bush. Romney replied: ''I
was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush; I'm not
trying to return to Reagan-Bush. My positions don't talk
about the things you suggest they talk about; this
isn't a political issue.''
In recent speeches, however, Romney has wrapped
himself in Reagan's mantle. ''Now, I wasn't always a
Ronald Reagan conservative. Neither was Ronald Reagan,
by the way,'' Romney told conservative activists last
weekend. (Glen Johnson, AP)
