Hightower Lowdown

When George Romney ran for president in 1968, he
opposed the war in Vietnam. When it came out that he’d
earlier supported the war, he blamed that on having
been “brainwashed.” At the time, Senator Gene
McCarthy, noting that Romney wasn’t known for being
too bright, commented that brainwashing him wouldn’t
have been necessary, since “I would have thought a
light rinse would be sufficient.”

Now comes a chip off the old block, George’s son, Mitt Romney, presently running for president. Mitt’s a Republican, so he’s trying to show the extreme-right-wing in his party that he’s one of them. Abortion? Agin it! But, oops, running for office in Massachusetts, Mitt was pro choice. Gay Marriage? No way, says Mitt. But, oops
again, he previously embraced gay rights.

The most fun, however, is Romney’s claim that he’s “been a hunter pretty much all my life.” This is important
because he wants the National Rifle Association to
endorse him. But— oops—his campaign had to admit that,
well…he’d actually gone hunting only twice in his
life. He later made this blunder worse by saying:
“I’ve always been a rodent and rabbit hunter. Small
varmints, if you will.” Rodents? And, “if you will?”
What NRA member talks like that? Still, Mitt brags
that he’s an NRA member. Yeah—he joined eight months
ago. And, in Massachusetts, he supported gun control
laws the NRA hates.

Well, he declared this year, “I have a gun of my own.” Uh…not exactly. Mitt—your son owns a gun, not you. Still, he claims that he keeps his son’s gun in his home. Which one? He owns homes in three states— just like your typical NRA hunter-guy, huh?

Worse than a flip-flopper, Mitt Romney simply can’t shoot straight with the American people.