Links, 2-3-12

Mitt Romney has come under fire for saying "I'm not concerned about the very poor" . . . here's the video of the entire discussion.  And here is both a cynical reaction and Romney's explanation

The other major controversy of the past 48 hours is the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation's decision to eliminate their grants to Planned Parenthood, which sparked an uproar in the blogosphere and on social media sites and prompted NYC Michael Bloomberg to pledge $250K in matching grant money to Planned Parenthood, saying that "Politics have no place in health care".  Update: The Komen foundation has backed off their decision and said that Planned Parenthood is again eligible to apply for grants.

February has six primaries/caucuses.  In three of those states (Nevada, Arizona, and Michigan), enough polling has been done to predict a winner -- Romney is the prohibitive favorite in all three.  The Ohio primary in March, however, is a toss-up.

Columnist Nick Kristof asks "Where Are the Romney Republicans?" and, citing a new book on the history of the party, argues that today's Republicans are the outliers -- that throughout history, Massachusetts moderates like Mitt Romney have dominated the Republican Party.

The new book, “Rule and Ruin,” by Geoffrey Kabaservice, a former assistant history professor at Yale, notes that, to compete in the primaries, Romney has had to flee from his own political record and that of his father, George Romney, a former governor of Michigan who is a symbol of mainstream moderation.
“Much of the current conservative movement is characterized by this sort of historical amnesia and symbolic parricide, which seeks to undo key aspects of the Republican legacy such as Reagan’s elimination of corporate tax loopholes, Nixon’s environmental and labor safety programs, and a variety of G.O.P. achievements in civil rights, civil liberties, and good government reforms,” Kabaservice writes. “In the long view of history, it is really today’s conservatives who are ‘Republicans in name only.’ ”
After all, the original Massachusetts moderates were legendary figures in Republican history, like Elihu Root and Henry Cabot Lodge. Theodore Roosevelt embraced progressivism as “the highest and wisest form of conservatism.” Few did more to promote racial integration, civil rights and individual freedoms than a Republican, Earl Warren, in his years as chief justice.
Dwight Eisenhower cautioned against excess military spending as “a theft from those who hunger and are not fed.” Richard Nixon proposed health care reform. Ronald Reagan endorsed the same tax rate for capital gains as for earned income. Each of these titans of Republican Party history would today risk mockery for these views.