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A while back, I wrote about how the Republican nominee-presumptive, who will face off against Mark Udall in the battle to replace Wayne Allard in the CO-Sen race next year, seemed to have got himself in a spot of bother by virtue of having taken campaign contributions from those connected with a company, to which he helped dish out money in connection with charter school programs.

Well, it turns out that this might be worse than it looked on the face of it when I first wrote on this...

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The Union Leader up in NH has a very good column this morning that gets right down to brass tacks on the issue of Romney and his abortion stances:

In a 2002 forum with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Shannon O'Brien, candidate Romney said he would "preserve and protect a woman's right to choose," opposed a 24-hour waiting period before getting an abortion, said he would do nothng to make it harder for a woman to have an abortion, and denied accepting Massachusetts Citizens for Life's...

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All I seem to write on these days is Romney. But this post is about a different kind of Romney. Specifically, it's about Romney sheep, which despite being part Scottish (Scots are big on sheep), I never had heard about. Anyway, here's your second Romney post of the day. And here's your Romney.

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In response to reading this at SFGate.com:

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who ran as a moderate in past campaigns in Massachusetts, on Monday rated himself as conservative as the late President Reagan.

In his 12th visit to Florida since January, the former Massachusetts governor was asked to grade himself as a conservative on a scale of one to 10 if Reagan were a 10.

"Probably a 10 as well," Romney said. "I'm trying to think in what places we would differ....

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I wrote awhile back that this bill that was being moved by Grassley, Baucus, Schumer and Lindsey Graham that would attempt to "deal" with China rigging its currency was bad news.

Turns out it is. According to the UK's Telegraph, China is now threatening a "nuclear option" of dollar sales, basically in retribution for trade sanctions that are on offer under the bill.

Were China to take this option, it could crash the dollar. Of course, they'd be silly to do it, because it would...

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Some day, I hope to be able to stop writing things criticizing Mitt Romney, and discussing his latest flip-flop, dumb comment, or indeed bizarre behavior on the part of his campaign team. But that day is not today. As we all know, until about 18 months ago, Mitt Romney was, in terms at least of his public policy position, pro-choice. Now, he's pro-life. I'm not going to spend time and space here analyzing the change of position, its timing, or anything else (we all know what I...

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So, I'm watching the GOP debate. Here are some initial thoughts:

1. I really thought John McCain's linkage of the abortion issue to national security was odd. Do people in the Congo, or Bangladesh, or Iraq think better or worse of us, to any significant degree depending on whether abortion remains legal in this country? I must say, having traveled in countries that are not huge fans of the United States (e.g., Syria, Lebanon, Vietnam), and having talked to people there quite a bit...

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More thoughts:

1. It's a bad day when on any level, I agree with Tom Tancredo. But I did agree with his comment about it not being government's responsibility to provide "womb to tomb" health care.

2. Romney's banging on about everyone going to the emergency room, and how much that costs again. As ever, I'm wondering whether anyone is going to ask the question: if health insurance in Massachusetts costs $400 per month per individual, and government there subsidizes insurance for...

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1. WOW! Giuliani just made a point about democracy that I consistently try to make in arguing against people who say that basic democracy-- i.e., just allowing people to vote-- in countries previously dominated by authoritarian regimes is the answer when it comes to delivering greater stability. Giuliani's basic point is that made by Fareed Zakaria-- that democracy doesn't work, and won't work, until there is a foundation of liberties that are recognized and accepted by the vast majority of a...

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1. Giuliani just made a wonderful, concise point about how reducing taxes increases revenue. He also has spouted off some very persuasive figures. I hope people who don't believe at all in supply-side economics are listening-- and that includes Romney's economic adviser who thinks supply-side economics are extremist.

2. Ooh, Romney's talking about bridges. I wonder whether anyone is going to raise the Big Dig...

3. McCain is on pork. Awesome. He looks seriously p*ssed. This...

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