[Guest post by Molly Redden]
When TNR’s Tim Noah set out to find if there was something, anything that Mitt Romney consistently believes in, all he found was his haircut. Indeed, the Republican presidential hopeful had already flip-flopped on such defining, first-principle issues as abortion, health care, climate change, gay rights, and gun control—you’d think that there are no more positions that Romney could possibly double back on.
But you would be wrong. Somewhat lost amid the tizzy over Rick Perry's “oops” moment this week was that the former Massachusetts governor flip-flopped on whether or not he flip-flops. Observe Romney justify his many shifting views to a New Hampshire town hall audience in late September:
“In the private sector, if you don’t change your view when the facts change, well, you’ll get fired for being stubborn and stupid,” Romney said. “Winston Churchill said, ‘When the facts change, I change too, Madam.’”
The Churchill quotation, as many noted gleefully, is in fact properly attributed to John Maynard Keynes. But that doesn’t matter anymore, because since then Romney has changed his mind. He’s actually not a flip-flopper! During Wednesday night’s GOP candidate debate, when confronted with accusations of flip-floppery, Romney readily counted himself among the stubborn and stupid: “I think people understand that I’m a man of steadiness and constancy.”
Someone call Jorge Luis Borges, because Mitt’s flips and flops are getting downright meta.