In no uncertain terms, the conservative Boston Herald has lambasted Governor Romney’s turnabout on stem cell research. Today’s editorial in the Herald calls Romney an "ostrich with head firmly planted in the sand." It goes on to recount a visit to a research institute in Israel that is conducting embryonic stem cell research, and concludes with the following:
It is almost beyond belief that Romney thinks this state – with some of the finest minds and research facilities in the world – should outlaw (and that’s really what we’re talking about here) a form of research that is being conducted throughout the civilized world.
The "almost" in "almost beyond belief" is the key here, isn’t it. It would be completely "beyond belief" for a Governor who actually cared about Massachusetts – its jobs, its science, its reputation, its families – to behave the way Romney has behaved over the last few weeks. But, as everyone knows, Romney wants to be President, and he thinks he has to play the social conservative card with the right-wing activists in South Carolina, Utah, and elsewhere, to get there. Let’s not forget that Romney announced his newly-minted stem cell position in an exclusive interview not with any local news organization, but with the New York Times, thereby garnering national coverage of an issue that otherwise would have been confined to the local press. Thank goodness that it appears the state legislature will be able to override Romney’s certain veto of Senate President Travaglini’s "carefully crafted" (in the Herald’s words) stem cell research bill.
