Is Romney a RINO?

At the start of the year, Steve Benen predicted that the Mitt Romney juggernaut would get derailed once Republicans learned about his past moderate positions on hot button issues. Holding himself to account, the Washington Monthly pundit admits that he "wasn't even close to being correct." But his prediction was not without logic. After all, he writes, "We're talking about a French-speaking Mormon vulture capitalist named Willard, who used to support abortion rights, gay rights, gun control, 'amnesty' for undocumented immigrants, and combating climate change. He distanced himself from Reagan, attended Planned Parenthood fundraisers, and helped create the blueprint for the Affordable Care Act. He supported taxpayer-funded abortions and taxpayer-financed medical care for undocumented immigrants." Romney of course brazenly flip-flopped on all of those issues -- and (as I continue to predict) he is still likely to be the GOP nominee. But therein lies Romney's core problem. The GOP base, in their hearts of hearts, thinks Romney is a RINO (Republican in Name Only). Ironically, the base is probably not wrong.