Romney in 2006 Backed Immigration Stance He Now Deems ‘Amnesty’ - Bloomberg #2012 #teaparty #tcot #tlot

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-11-28/romney-s-previous-position-on-immigration-mirrors-gingrich-he-criticizes.html

”In a 2006 interview with the Boston Globe, Romney backed the approach in legislation crafted by Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona and the late Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts that would have created a path to legal status for illegal immigrants. Then-President George W. Bush, a Republican, also championed the approach.

After Romney detected the potency of the issue in Iowa, he changed course and began criticizing McCain during the 2008 presidential primary for pressing such a plan, one strategist close to his campaign said, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid publicly disputing the candidate.

Gross of Iowa, who was chairman of Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign in the state and is neutral this year, gave the same account. “Four years ago, you were coming right off the defeat of the Bush bill that people called amnesty, so a lot of the Republican base was red-hot over the issue -- it came up at every event here,” Gross said.

Romney’s decision to attack McCain on immigration, he added, “was in direct contrast to a lot of the statements he had made. He sensed the political implications of it, and that’s why he was doing it.”

Gross said he counseled Romney’s aides at the time against making a tough anti-immigration stance a central theme of his campaign. “I thought it would make him look like he was flip-flopping and sort of feed the narrative that he would do or say anything to get elected,” Gross said.

Gingrich revived that story line by taking to the social networking Web site Twitter last week to post a clip of a 2007 television interview in which Romney said illegal immigrants should be allowed to sign up for legal status.

Romney told Iowa voters during a Nov. 23 telephone call organized by his campaign that he has always believed that illegal immigrants should be sent back to their countries of origin to apply for such status. “I just don’t think that those who have come here illegally should be given a special pathway, a special deal,” Romney told a voter who questioned him on the issue.”....

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