Hours After Siding With States On Emissions Waiver, Romney Flips And Backs The White House
Hours After Siding With States On Emissions Waiver, Romney Flips And Backs The White House
Last month, EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson denied California a waiver that would have allowed 16 states to implement landmark automobile greenhouse emissions reductions.
In last night’s Republican presidential debate, all four candidates said they supported California’s efforts. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney emphasized that states should “be able to make their own regulations with regards to emissions.” He confirmed again later in the debate:
Q: Just so I’m clear, you said you side with the states. That means you side with Governor Schwarzenegger —
ROMNEY: I side with states being able to make their own decisions, even if I don’t always agree with the decisions they make.
Watch it:
But Romney didn’t want to side with the environment for too long. The AP reports that “[a]fter the debate,” — and after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R-CA) endorsed Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) — “Romney’s campaign issued a statement in which he said that the federal government, not individual states, should set limits on carbon emissions.”
Romney’s alleged support of California’s emissions waiver is further discredited by the fact that on Jan. 4, he was skeptical of states’ efforts in an interview with the Detroit News Editorial Board:
[The energy bill] does maintain the distinction between light trucks and automotive (standards), which is encouraging, although it leaves open the door to states putting in place tougher standards and the EPA putting in place additional regulations.
For Romney, every problem has multiple answers.
UPDATE: Romney’s statement below:
“As Governor of a state, and in the absence of any clear authority that the federal government had the ability to regulate CO2 emissions, I supported the right of states to address these issues. These sorts of more aggressive state-by-state regulations make most sense when dealing with regional issues like air quality. But when it comes to something like CO2 emissions, which are a global problem, not a California-specific problem, and when Michigan makes the same cars and trucks regardless of whether they’re bound for California, Vermont or (even) Massachusetts, it makes more sense to have one set of Federal rules to address CO2 emissions from vehicles rather than a patchwork of different State regulations.”
Topic Cloud
ArchivesBlog Roll
Oh who cares, Romney is insane, flawed, and quite possibly, a robot. He keeps disagreeing with himself because he doesn’t understand our human logic.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:44 pmRomney or McCain, it matters not. The Democratic nominee should win at least 38 states against either one of these sorry excuses for a candidate.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:51 pmCould this man be any more transparent. He’s the quintessential flip-flopper. Remember when the Republiscums followed John Kerry around with giant flip-flops? Well, why is no one doing that with Romney?
January 31st, 2008 at 7:53 pmWell, why is no one doing that with Romney?
Comment by bilbobaggins — January 31, 2008 @ 7:53 pm
Because he couldn’t win an election running aginst me. Why bother?
January 31st, 2008 at 7:55 pmBilbo: “Well, why is no one doing that with Romney?”
- - I dunno, because Democrats are by and large not as juvenile, petty, or stupid as Republicans?
January 31st, 2008 at 7:55 pmwhy is no one doing that with Romney?
Comment by bilbobaggins — January 31, 2008 @ 7:53 pm
Both Lefty and Badmoodman answered this question quite persuasively, each in his own way.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:57 pmIt seems like they (Republicans) aren’t even trying anymore. They contradict themselves before the echoes, of their lies, have subsided.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:58 pmLive-blogging of the Democrat Debate on TheZoo now.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:03 pmBut Romney didn’t want to side with the environment for too long. - TP
he never DID side with the environment…
ROMNEY: I side with states being able to make their own decisions, even if I don’t always agree with the decisions they make.
says it all… all kinds of wiggle room…
imagine that…
January 31st, 2008 at 8:08 pmReversible Mittens. Just flip them around and they’re like brand new.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:22 pmWhy even bother posting threads about Richey Rich Mittens? He’s not going to win the Republican nomination. It’s going to be McCain by a landslide. It’s not that Republicans don’t resent him for his fake image as a moderate, but they know he’s the only Republican that has a chance to win. Don’t kid yourselves, McCain is a formidable candidate that will be hard to beat. He’s been the Corporate Media darling for years and they have carefully crafted his image as a straight talking, maverick moderate. The low information voting public by and large buys into that image.
If you don’t believe me, here’s the latests Rassmussen poll and it isn’t good news:
The latest Rasmussen Reports survey of Election 2008 shows Republican frontrunner Senator John McCain with single-digit leads over Democratic Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. McCain now leads Clinton 48% to 40%. He leads Barack Obama 47% to 41%
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/ public_content/ politics/ election_20082/ 2008_presidential_election/ john_mccain_match_ups/ election_2008_mccain_vs_clinton_and_obama
January 31st, 2008 at 8:27 pmComment by Snowball — January 31, 2008 @ 8:27 pm
You raise good points, Snowball. And I think McCain is the most formidable opponent the Repugs can field — not because of his record as a legislator, but just because, as you say, the media love them some McCain.
But keep in mind that we’re nine months from Election Day. Nine months ago, McCain looked to be toast — no money, staffers deserting, polls in the toilet.
So a lot can happen in nine months, McCain is very vulnerable and there’s a national mood to get Republicans as far away from the reins of power as possible, and hopefully keep ‘em there.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:32 pm#11 snowball i agree - and mitt seems to be falling apart everytime mccain winds him up too - mccain is looking unusually level headed and every time he baits him,romney falls for it and turns into a blithering idiot!!
January 31st, 2008 at 8:38 pmBetter to have Romney win the primary because McCain will be harder to beat in the general election.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:38 pmEven though Romney is a big, fat, stinky, slimy, infested, infected, donkey c*ck
January 31st, 2008 at 8:40 pmComment by ForTruth — January 31, 2008 @ 8:40 pm
I’m not getting the full picture yet…. :D
January 31st, 2008 at 8:44 pmDid McCain mischaracterize Romney’s remarks regarding Iraq “timetable” & “milestone”?
http://www.youpolls.com/details.asp?pid=1665
.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:52 pmYeah Zooey, I suppose I should elaborate a little. Romney also does shows in Tijuana, Mexico.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:52 pmRomney also straps dogs to roofs of vehicles. I wonder what else he straps on?
January 31st, 2008 at 8:56 pmFWIW, I landed in Massachusetts — a state that no one should ever have to spell in public — just as Romney was leaving and Deval was being voted in. From my limited perspecitve, I thought he did a pretty good job as an MA Republican. But it is shocking — and, frankly, embarrassing — to watch the man implode on the horns of the dilemma of his own making as he desperately tries to pander to everyone.
As for the Rasmussen polls, no one his hitting McCain where he is weakest, because the only people who would do so now are Republicans and these issues generally hurt their entire ticket. Polls also indicate that opposition to the war remains overwhelming. (Y’all read the same progressive screeds that I do, so I’m hoping nobody is going to require that I actually look that data up.) Once the Democratic ticket shakes out to a definite winner (and I’m still hoping for a floor fight at the Convention), the intrinsic weaknesses of the Republican Plan are going to be pointed out with rather more enthusiasm than what the other Republicans have managed. Plus, there’s the little problem that our economy is going to implode this year, and whoever’s party owns the office gets the blame.
This doesn’t mean that we should go to sleep now; but it might suggest that it is early in the game to be losing sleep.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:58 pmForTruth,
You’re hilarious. Do go on….
January 31st, 2008 at 8:59 pmMitt Osmond sucks.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:14 pmRomney likes to strap a dog to his ass while riding a donkey.
January 31st, 2008 at 9:14 pmI just chocked on my orange segment. :D
January 31st, 2008 at 9:21 pmI choked, too. :P
January 31st, 2008 at 9:26 pmChocking, choking. It’s all good.
January 31st, 2008 at 10:06 pmYeah ol’ Mitt was choking too. On that big ol’…
January 31st, 2008 at 10:07 pmLeopard spots?
January 31st, 2008 at 10:22 pmRomney’s on the verge of flip-flopping his back out again. It’s his fervent hope that he confuses Republican voters so completely that they will forget he wear special underpants. Of course after all of that donkey riding, I’d probably need special under garments, too.
AF
January 31st, 2008 at 10:52 pmHe’s outflopping the 35 pound Halibut we put in the boat a couple of years ago off La Push.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:39 pmAnd the halibut was smarter and better looking…
Did anyone catch this exchange in the debate?
Anderson asked the candidates if the country was better off now than it was 8 years ago.
Romney responded this way:
FORMER GOV. MITT ROMNEY: Well, if you’re voting for George Bush, you’d be very interested in knowing the answer to that. If you’re voting for Mitt Romney, you’d like to know, “Are you better off in Massachusetts after four years of my term in office?” And the answer would be decidedly yes.
He then started listing some of the things he had done as governor.
After a minute or so, Anderson had to remind him what the question was, and the exchange went like this:
COOPER: Let me just interrupt. The question was: Are Americans better off than they were eight years ago? And as you know, there are a lot of Americans out right now who are very interested in the answer. They’re not feeling particularly good about their home sales — the value of their homes dropping down or the unemployment rate rising.
How do you feel America is doing?
ROMNEY: Well, again, I’m pleased with what I do while I was — as governor and happy to talk about that record.
COOPER: Are you running for governor or are you running for president, though?
ROMNEY: But I’m not running on President Bush’s record. President Bush can talk about his record. Washington is badly broken.
Mitt then went on about some of the problems he considered.
Classic, I tell you.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:45 pmThat exchange would make a great TP headline:
Romney Tries To Convince America That He’s Running For Governor.
Excerpts from debate transcript obtained here.
January 31st, 2008 at 11:49 pmBoth Lefty and Badmoodman answered this question quite persuasively, each in his own way.
Comment by ralph the wonder llama
I was thinking more along the lines of why his Republican competitors haven’t done that to him. It’s not time for the Democrats to be going after the Republicans yet. I just thought that someone in the Republican party would pull that old canard on Romney. He is a world class flip-flopper.
February 1st, 2008 at 12:51 amMitt! The GOP’s Joe Isuzu candidate!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn1ya_qTGZY
February 1st, 2008 at 1:13 am