Questions for Mitt Romney

Gov. Romney:

1. Rick Santorum has claimed that the President’s environmental policies are based on a “phony theology.” Do you agree? Do you think his comments were appropriate in a campaign?

2. Rick Santorum has claimed that mainline Protestantism has fallen under Satanic influence and is not longer part of the world of Christianity. Do you agree? Do you think that his comments were appropriate in a campaign?

3. Rick Santorum has asserted that birth control is “harmful to women” and “harmful to society.” Do you agree?

4. Rick Santorum opposes health insurance coverage for pre-natal ultrasound exams because he says they lead to abortions. Do you agree?

In the competition for Republican primary voters, Santorum’s extremism is probably a net plus. Romney doesn’t want to position himself as the more moderate of the candidates. But, assuming (as still seems more likely than not) that Romney will be the nominee, the rest of the voters are entitled to know just how much of his rival’s extremism Romney shares.

Author: Mark Kleiman

Professor of Public Policy at the NYU Marron Institute for Urban Management and editor of the Journal of Drug Policy Analysis. Teaches about the methods of policy analysis about drug abuse control and crime control policy, working out the implications of two principles: that swift and certain sanctions don't have to be severe to be effective, and that well-designed threats usually don't have to be carried out. Books: Drugs and Drug Policy: What Everyone Needs to Know (with Jonathan Caulkins and Angela Hawken) When Brute Force Fails: How to Have Less Crime and Less Punishment (Princeton, 2009; named one of the "books of the year" by The Economist Against Excess: Drug Policy for Results (Basic, 1993) Marijuana: Costs of Abuse, Costs of Control (Greenwood, 1989) UCLA Homepage Curriculum Vitae Contact: Markarkleiman-at-gmail.com

5 thoughts on “Questions for Mitt Romney”

  1. The chances of R-money coming out and saying, “I am the conservative candidate, but I am not an insane candidate!” are pretty close to nil. If R-money decides to come out and try to tack to the right of Little Ricky, it is a tacit acknowledgement that they are both toast (possibly, with Santorum on top).

  2. Question for Rick Santorum:

    You watched Newt Skywalker crash and burn in Florida when he couldn’t keep his piehole shut about going to the moon…
    Why did you not play it cool and keep a cork in your fundy maw in Michigan?

    Aphorism of the day: Goofus can never be Gallant.

  3. Why did you not play it cool and keep a cork in your fundy maw in Michigan?

    It is a feature, not a bug, of the political environment these third-raters operate in.

  4. Supposedly the polls are tightening in recent days, eroding Santorum’s lead over Romney. Any chance that Santorum’s recent extreme comments are correlated with his lead starting to slip?

  5. Pingback: Simple question « The Reality-Based Community

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