ARE WE NOT MEN?

The evolution of Richard Gephardt (BILL LAMBRECHT AND DEIRDRE SHESGREEN, 7/05/03, St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

As he joined the Democratic leadership in Congress and began to eye the presidency, Gephardt moved left - especially on issues like abortion and the environment that were litmus tests for party activists. [...]

When Gephardt ran for president in 1988, Al Gore and other rivals spared no mercy in shining the light on his "flip-flops" on social issues over the years. In a debate in Des Moines in 1987, Gore skewered Gephardt by saying he was reminded of the politician who ended every speech with the line: "'Well, them's my views. If you don't like 'em, I'll change 'em.'"

Former Illinois Sen. Paul Simon, who also ran for the Democratic nomination in 1988, said he believed that Gephardt would make a good president - but:

"I think Dick's vulnerability is that he appears to some people that he's not strong on the courage quotient. This may or may not be accurate, but it is something that he's going to have to deal with."

Ex-Rep. Dan Glickman, of Kansas, who came to Congress in the Watergate class of 1977, recalled that he, too, supported abortion limits early in his congressional career and cast other votes that he later regretted.

"We evolve, depending on where you came from, your background, your neighborhood. Some of these issues, like abortion, are tough. If you're not conflicted, you're not human," said Glickman, who heads the Institute of Politics at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government.

One more strike against the theory of evolution. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 9, 2003 8:48 AM