cronincal

Romney fields questions on King
Campaign says claim not literal
December 20, 2007
BY TODD SPANGLER
FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has said he watched his father, the late Michigan Gov. George Romney, in a 1960s civil rights march in Michigan with Martin Luther King Jr.

On Wednesday, Romney's campaign said his recollections of watching his father, an ardent civil rights supporter, march with King were meant to be figurative.

"He was speaking figuratively, not literally," Eric Fehrnstrom, spokesman for the Romney campaign, said of the candidate.The campaign was responding to questions raised by the Free Press and other media after a Boston publication challenged the accuracy of Mitt Romney's account.

In a major speech on faith and politics earlier this month in Texas, Mitt Romney said: "I saw my father march with Martin Luther King."

He made a similar statement Sunday during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press." He said, "You can see what I believed and what my family believed by looking at our lives. My dad marched with Martin Luther King. My mom was a tireless crusader for civil rights."

Romney's campaign cited various historical articles, as well as a 1967 book written by Stephen Hess and Washington Post political columnist David Broder, as confirmation that George Romney marched with King in Grosse Pointe in 1963.

"He has marched with Martin Luther King through the exclusive Grosse Pointe suburb," Hess and Broder wrote in "The Republican Establishment: The Present and Future of the GOP."

Free Press archives, however, showed no record of King marching in Grosse Pointe in 1963 or of then-Gov. Romney taking part in King's historic march down Woodward Avenue in June of that year.

George Romney told the Free Press at the time that he didn't take part because it was on a Sunday and he avoided public appearances on the Sabbath because of his religion.

Romney did participate in a civil rights march protesting housing bias in Grosse Pointe just six days after the King march. According to the Free Press account, however, King was not there.

Broder could not be reached for comment Wednesday night.

The Boston Phoenix reported Wednesday it could find no evidence that Romney and King ever marched together.

Mitt Romney's older brother, Detroit attorney Scott Romney, said he recalls his father telling him the elder Romney marched with King, possibly in 1963, but he could not remember exactly when the event took place.

Fehrnstrom called the Romney brothers' recollection and the historical materials a "pretty convincing case that George Romney did march with Dr. Martin Luther King and other civil rights leaders in Michigan."

The governor's record was one of supporting civil rights. He helped create the state's first civil rights commission and marched at the head of a protest parade in Detroit days after violence against civil rights marchers in Selma, Ala., in 1965.

Mitt Romney's campaign planned today to further research George Romney's papers for evidence of his march with King.

Free Press Library Director Alice Pepper contributed to this report.

Teri B.

He lies a hell of a lot doesn't he, Mr. Big-Game-Hunting, NRA Man! What a fool.

cronincal

yeah, the varmit reaper. i can see why tancredo likes him so much.

Heretic

If your religion interfers with civil rights then your religion is wrong. Hell, I could imagine Jesus himself condemning Romney on that exact point.

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"In space no one can hear you scream. in D.C. it won't matter..." -Clinton Resurrection: The Alien Queen lives!

Heretic

"If he's so worked up about illegal immigration maybe he should get that varmet gun of his and chase those Guatamalians off his lawn." -John McCain

__________________
"In space no one can hear you scream. in D.C. it won't matter..." -Clinton Resurrection: The Alien Queen lives!

cronincal

here's a funny little flesh-out.

Chris Kelly| BIO | I'M A FAN OF THIS BLOGGER
Mitticisms: "Martin Luther King"
Posted December 20, 2007 | 01:11 PM (EST)

Earlier this month, in a speech defending the racist, uhm, quirks of his proud but secret religion, Mitt Romney declared:

Quote:

"I saw my father march with Martin Luther King."

So, well, that's that. Except, according to a report in the Boston Phoenix, it turns out that depends on what your definition of "saw" is. And "march." And "with." And "Martin Luther King."
Because it never happened.

Quote:

"A spokesperson for Mitt Romney now tells the Phoenix that George W. Romney and Martin Luther King Jr. marched together in June, 1963 -- although possibly not on the same day or in the same city." ... Romney spokesperson Eric Fehrnstrom suggests that these two were part of the same "series" of events, co-sponsored by King and the NAACP, and is thus consistent with Romney's claim that 'I saw my father march with Martin Luther King.'"

Mitt, Fehrnstrom explains, was speaking "figuratively."

Although they never marched together, they did march separately. In that they were both in Michigan and ambulatory at the same time. And, by "the same time," I mean "different times."

Except, if you read the Phoenix story, George Romney didn't actually "march" anywhere. But he was present at an event. Where King was not.
And Mitt never "saw" it, because he was doing missionary work in France.
WHAT MITT MEANT:

We can all agree that George Romney and Martin Luther King were both alive in June, 1963.

--

Update:

The Romney campaign is still looking for an event where George Romney might have marched with Martin Luther King. Romney seems to have been at King's funeral, but that doesn't count, since Baptists don't believe the dead walk and we don't know what Mormons believe. Mitt would tell you, but then he'd have to kill you, and rebaptize you against your will.

Another helpful lead from Team Mitt? The event where Mitt Romney might have seen his father marching with Dr. King and/or kissing Santa Claus occurred somewhere between 1963 and 1968.

So Mitt might not have been ministering to the French; he might have been in high school, to see it, if it happened or not, which is anybody's guess.

And a clarification from the candidate himself:

It's basic etymology. When a man says: "I saw," you should know it's just an expression. For "I didn't see."

Except the American Motors comparison doesn't really work. Presumably there are pay stubs from that. Because presumably it really happened. A more precise analogy would be: "I saw my dad invent the internal combustion engine."

With Medgar Evers.

Your family might believe it. But it doesn't make it even figuratively true.

cheapseats

This is hilarious.

Does polygamy feature in the Romney family paradigm?

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Richterscale

I suppose it does, if you take it to mean "I'll wed myself to any ideology or belief as long as it helps me amass power."

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Google Sibel Edmonds

"How many people died from the Kama Sutra as opposed to the Bible? Who wins?" - Frank Zappa

cheapseats

No, I mean in the practical sense i.e. how many wives did Mitt Romney's father have?

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grumpygirl

One, but his great-grandfather had five. Literally.