Probable GOP presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are both doing damage control today the disclosure of shocking past brushes with non-extremism.
Romney, who has come under fire from his fellow Republicans for shepherding through a universal health care plan when he was governor of Massachusetts, has been shying away from his pro-health care past, and today wrote an op-ed [1]rolling out a plan that wrests control of health care regulations away from the federal government. Unfortunately for Romney’s attempt to remake himself as a Tea Party Republican, a liberal Massachusetts group chose today to dig up [2] the former governor’s former support for a national health care plan that included an individual insurance mandate – the very part of health care reform that the Tea Party despises the most.
Then there’s Gingrich, who will be announcing his presidential candidacy tomorrow, who is coming under fire [3]from a right-wing group for his previous acknowledgement of climate change and support for being kind to the environment. (Here he is [4]advocating for the cause with Nancy Pelosi). While far-right leaders seem to be ready to forgive [5] Gingrich for his history of marital infidelity, his history of tree-hugging may be a bridge too far.
As the GOP’s potential presidential candidates rush to endear themselves to leaders [6] of the fringe [7] right, [8] we can expect to see a lot more instances of candidates disowning their previous brushes with centrism.