Mitt Romney: I still believe in traditional marriage
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 5, 2013, (LifeSiteNews.com) – Although his critics mercilessly criticized him for changing his positions on a number of political issues, Mitt Romney says that he has not changed his mind on the definition of marriage.
The 2012 Republican presidential candidate's fortitude on the issue comes as Beltway insiders in his party are pressing the grassroots to stifle its longstanding commitment to defend marriage.
In his first post-election interview on Fox News Sunday, Chris Wallace asked the former Massachusetts governor about the 80 Republicans – many of whom never held elective office – who signed an amicus curiae brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn restrictions on same-sex “marriage.”
When asked if his views had “evolved at all” on redefining marriage, Mitt Romney replied, “No.”
“I believe that marriage is a relationship between a man and a woman, and that's because I believe the ideal setting for raising a child is where there's a mother and a father in the home,” he said. “Other people have differing views, and I respect that, whether that's in my party or the Democratic Party. But these are very personal matters.”
His argument echoed that of Ryan T. Anderson of theHeritage Foundation and others, who said that states recognize marriages primarily for the rearing and nurturing of children. To change its component parts would be to deny a child the right to have a mother or father.
Perhaps trying to tap down the brewing Republican fight over marriage, he said, “My hope is that when we discuss things of this nature, uh, we show respect for people who have differing views.”
Polls show that, at most, 30 percent of Republicans support redefining marriage. However, a well-financed movement, largely based inside Washington and other liberal-dominated areas, is demanding the party's grassroots accept their loss on the issue as “inevitable.”
National Review, long the flagship publication of the Right, stated the upcoming CPAC conference should “embrace” the homosexual group GOProud, which supports redefining marriage, because it is “conservative on the important issues.”
Click "like" if you want to defend true marriage.
In the sometimes introspective interview, the two men discussed why Romney lost the election. Mitt pinned his loss on his failure to carry the minority vote.
“We weren't effective in my message primarily to minority voters, to Hispanic-Americans, African-Americans, other minorities. That was a real mistake,” Romney said.
Obama won 93 percent of black votes and 71 percent of Hispanic votes. Real Clear Politics estimated some six million white voters, mostly Republican, did not vote in 2012.
Some believe that deficit could have been made up if Romney had campaigned on conservative issues. “Governor Romney may have personally adopted conservative positions on various elements of the conservative social agenda, and they may or may not have been sincerely held convictions. But you couldn’t find any of those positions in a Romney ad or as a talking point for one of the debates, or in any way as part of his campaign,” according to an article on Richard Viguerie'sConservativeHQ.com. “The right-to-life, Obama’s war on religion and the Catholic Church, support for the traditional family...once the primaries were over those issues were never part of Romney’s campaign.”
Romney addressed his future in the party – a future that begins with his upcoming speech at the CPAC conference.
“I lost and so I'm not going to be telling the Republican Party, ‘Come listen to me, the guy who lost,’” he said. Yet he vowed, “I'm not going to disappear.”
If he remains a voice for preserving traditional marriage and opposing civil unions, three-quarters of his party may appreciate his leadership.
