it’s understandable that social conservatives would have a few legitimate questions about mitt romney. we have all seen conflicting statements that he has made, and it is troubling to think that someone who wants to be president would change his mind on these very important issues purely for political advantage. that’s the indictment that has already been handed down for mr. romney, and many of us may have already convicted the guy.

knowing what I know about mitt romney, i still like him better than hillary, obama, or edwards. it goes back to what i said in a previous post trying to persuade conservatives to vote republican in the ’06 mid-terms — it’s better for us to have a party in power who agrees with us most of the time (which we had) than a democratic party who disagrees with our entire plate of issues.

social issues are important to conservatives, but there’s more to supporting republicans than abortion and gay marriage. there’s also fiscal concerns with taxes and reducing spending, as well as judicial nominations, gun rights, and the growing terrorist threat we face as a nation. even though we may disagree with a candidate’s views on social issues, we still take other factors into account when picking a nominee.

for me, it’s about finding a president (no matter what party he/she happens to be) who scares the hell out of rogue states, bad actors like kim jong il and ahmadinejad, and all other terrorists. i haven’t seen a democrat who gives me that impression. i’m still deciding about romney, giuliani, and mccain.

i would love to find a viable presidential candidate who has always agreed with social conservatives, but i don’t see any of those out there. my ideal candidate would also be a communicator-in-chief, someone who could sell his policies to the american people and rally their support. that’s the kind of president i would like to have, and that’s where i think president bush has really struggled at times. it would also be nice if this person believed in shrinking government and permanent tax cuts. oh yeah…and appointing supreme court judges like scalia and roberts.

why is it that giuliani gets a free pass on his views on gay rights, abortion, and gun control, but every single thing romney ever said or did is sliced up six ways from sunday? if we can forgive giuliani for all these things, we can certainly make allowances for romney.

i don’t know whether romney’s new positions are borne out of political calculation or whether he had a geniune change of heart on all these issues. but if social conservatives can’t accept romney, they also have to reject giuliani, who has been consistent in supporting both abortion and gay marriage.

social conservatives have never gotten everything they want, even with a republican president and a republican-controlled congress. at some point, we have to accept that reality and settle for getting someone who will go along with most of what we believe.

tags: mitt romney, rudy giuliani, ’08 election