COLUMN: 02-14-2007

Governor Mitt Romney has been making all kinds of claims about why he changed his positions on abortion, gay rights, and gun control, but it's very clear that the main reason has always been political expediency. Though he comes from a very religious and conservative family (we'll save a discussion of Mormonism for another time), he walked away from those views to pursue the governship of one of the most liberal states in the country. If he thinks that he can come right back to those views now, just in time to run for president, and immediately have credibility, he must think that the Republican primary voters are very naive.

On another issue of credibility, it was recently announced that Vice President Cheney won't testify in the "Scooter" Libby perjury trial. If he truly believes that his former chief of staff is innocent of all wrong doing, he should jump right into the case and say so under oath. However, unlike congressional testimony, which he can get away from by claiming executive privilege, if he is under oath during the trial, he would be exposing himself to perjury charges when he would be asked about the reasons Libby was attacking former ambassador Wilson, which was the false basis for the Iraq War. Making all kinds of public statements on the innocence of his friend but not doing anything substantive to defend him is yet another example of lack of accountability and credibility of anything coming out of the Bush administration.