When the Obama administration announced last week that it would invoke executive privilege and not release some documents related to the “Fast and Furious” operation, Mitt Romney’s campaign was quick to call the president a hypocrite. But in 2007, Romney endorsed a similar move by a Republican administration.

Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul attacked the Obama administration’s executive privilege claim last Wednesday in a statement, saying “President Obama’s pledge to run the most open and transparent administration in history has turned out to be just another broken promise.”

But as Congress sought to compel President George W. Bush’s administration to allow Karl Rove and Harriet Miers to cooperate with an investigation into the U.S. Attorney’s scandal, Romney could not have been more forceful in his support for the executive privilege claim. Asked by a conservative radio show how whether he agreed with President Bush’s decision to simply ignore the subpoenas, Romney said:

Yeah, he’s got a responsibility to protect executive privilege. That’s just part of preserving the powers of the presidency… He should do what he thinks is the right thing with regards to members of his team but preserve executive privilege.

The Bush administration asserted “deliberative process privilege” in that case — the same privilege being cited here for the Department of Justice “Fast and Furious” documents.

Allen Quist, Republican candidate in Minnesota's 1st congressional district

Allen Quist, a former state representative running against Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN) in Minnesota’s 1st congressional district, told a town hall late last week that Obama’s recent immigration policy, as well as his decision not to defend in court the Defense of Marriage Act, were both unconstitutional. While some Republicans would cautiously leave the matter there, Quist pressed on, declaring that Obama had committed an impeachable offense. If elected, he promised he would “not only propose it, [he] would argue it to the utmost of my ability and [he] would carry it like a banner to the American public.”

QUIST: When Richard Nixon was threatened with impeachment, one of the articles of impeachment was violating the Constitution of the United States. So is this an impeachable offense? Yes. Whenever the Constitution is violated, it is an impeachable offense. [...]

QUESTIONER: Would that be something you would propose amongst your fellows there?

QUIST: I would not only propose it, I would argue it to the utmost of my ability and I would carry it like a banner to the American public.

Quist isn’t the only Republican currently floating impeachment as a response to Obama’s directive to protect one million children of undocumented immigrants from being deported. Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) told a radio show this morning that “impeachment is always a possibility.”

Mitt Romney senior adviser Carlos Gutierrez dodged repeated questions about the candidate’s position on Arizona’s controversial SB 1070 immigration law during an appearance on CNN Tuesday morning — just one day after the Supreme Court invalidated its key provisions and reiterated that the federal government has authority over immigration policy.

Instead, Gutierrez blamed President Obama for failing to lead on the issue and reiterated that Romney believes states should be given more latitude to enforce immigration laws. He refused to say if Romney actually supports the law:

SOLEDAD O’BRIEN (HOST): Does Mitt Romney support SB 1070, yes or no?

GUTIERREZ: Soledad, it’s a little bit more complicated –

O’BRIEN: It’s not.

GUTIERREZ: But what the governor has said and made a statement yesterday, he supports the right of border states to do what they have to do according to the law –

O’BRIEN: Does that include — does that include stopping and detaining anyone and check the immigration status of that person, if they have reasonable suspicion if the person is in the country illegally? [...]

GUTIERREZ: This is not about Governor Romney –

O’BRIEN: It is if he wants to be president…I want to know what his position is.

GUTIERREZ: His position is that we have a mess and need a national policy.

Watch it:

Romney was far more direct about his support for SB 1070 during the GOP presidential primary. At a CNN debate in February, the former Massachusetts governor said that the state’s law should serve as “model” for the nation and promised to drop the federal government’s challenge to the law, adding, “just as Arizona is finding out, you can stop illegal immigration. It’s time we finally did it.”

He initially refused to opine on the Court’s decision on Monday, but later told funders, ” I would have preferred to see the Supreme Court give more latitude to the states not less.”

New polling from Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, one of the more reliably conservative districts in the country, shows surprising vulnerabilities for Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, especially on the issue of women’s health.

In the poll from from Harrison Hickman obtained exclusively by ThinkProgress, voters say they would support a pro-choice candidate over a candidate who is pro-life by an unexpectedly large margin, 68 percent to 23 percent. The finding comes after intense media coverage of efforts by state Republicans to mandate transvaginal ultrasounds prior to obtaining an abortion, a procedure described by critics as “state-sponsored rape.” The resulting backlash from women in Virginia forced Governor Bob McDonnell (R) and his allies at the statehouse to moderate their efforts.

Eric Cantor has a 100% rating from the National Right To Life Committee.

The poll also calls into question Republicans’ scorched earth policy when it comes to working with the Obama administration. Fifty nine percent of voters say they would support a candidate who works with President Obama some of the time compared to just 32 percent of respondents who say they would vote for the candidate who opposes virtually everything proposed by the White House, as Cantor and the rest of the GOP have insisted upon for much of Obama’s first term.

And asked about Cantor specifically, voters disapprove of his handling of government spending, health care and reigning in the budget deficit, three key issues that Cantor and House Republicans have campaigned heavily on since 2008.

While Cantor is not among Republicans who are considered at risk by political prognosticators, 43 percent of voters would replace Cantor compared to just 41 percent who would reelect him. Cantor is running against Democratic Wayne Powell, a 30-year army veteran and moderate Democrat who is still relatively unknown in the district.