Liberal Republican Bill Weld's Presidential Candidacy Is a Bad Joke

Weld is nothing more than a delusional elitist who spent most of his gubernatorial tenure issuing opportunistic “Democratic-lite” press releases, appointing scores of Democrats to government positions, and presiding over the demise of the GOP’s state’s legislative delegations.

In 2008, Weld ditched GOP nominee John McCain and supported Barrack Obama. And in the 2016 election, he ran as the vice-presidential running mate of the hapless Libertarian presidential candidate, Gary Johnson. You remember that guy. He was the one when asked by a CNN reporter, “what would you do if you were elected about Aleppo…,” responded by asking, “What is Aleppo?”

Weld, a super-liberal, is way out of the Republican mainstream.

Here’s a sampling of his views:

• In October 1996, Weld described himself as “culturally, more like an urban Democrat than a suburban Republican.” (Washington Post, October 27, 1996)
• In October 2004, Weld described himself as “a prominent liberal on social issues.” (New York Observer, October 18, 2004)
• When asked in May 1992 about third-trimester abortions, Weld said: “I’d leave it up to the woman. There’s a lot of sin in the world. I wouldn’t try to regulate broadly so as to reach an occasional case of post-viability abortions. There will be such cases, but it’s a price I will pay in order to have government stay out of the thicket. I’m not saying let’s all get behind third-trimester abortions; nobody feels that way. But it’s a question of what price do you pay when you begin to regulate.” (Boston Globe, May 7, 1992)
• During his 1996 race against Sen. John Kerry, Gov. Weld said he would have voted — as Kerry had — to uphold President Clinton’s veto of the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, saying, “It’s a terrible procedure and I wish that it would never occur, but I would have voted the same way.” (Boston Herald, September 9, 1996)
• In May 1996, Weld unsuccessfully tried to “purge abortion opponents from the state delegation to the national Republican convention.” (Boston Globe, May 8, 1996)
• In August 1996, Weld stated, “I think I can say that I would not confirm or put somebody on the bench that wants to roll back Roe v. Wade…That is the law of the land.” “I don’t really favor litmus tests for judicial appointments,” Weld said. “But I have said on the state Supreme Court level, if it was a 4 to 3 court, the nominees’ position on abortion would weigh very heavily.” (Boston Glove, August 21, 1996)

As for his claim, he’s a fiscal conservative, here’s his record as governor:

• Between 1992 and 1995, tax revenues and budgets in Massachusetts increased every year; state spending increased at two-and-a-half times the rate of inflation. By August 1997, it was being reported that government spending Massachusetts had increased by more than 50 percent during Weld’s six years in office. (Slate, August 3, 1997)
• In an article published in the winter 1996 edition of Manhattan Institute’s quarterly magazine, City Journal’s Jeff Jacoby wrote, “For all Weld’s talk of downsizing, his administration has ‘upsized’ in every year save its first.” (City Journal, Winter 1996)

And here’s what John McDuff, former Chairman of the Quincy, Massachusetts Republican Committee, had to say about Governor Weld and his lieutenant governor, Paul Cellucci:

“Here in Massachusetts, the Weld-Cellucci team has promoted abortion, condoms in the schools, free needles for drug addition and a host of other liberal causes, eroding family responsibility and basic moral values…. In short, they’re making a blatant appeal to current political correctness and the very worst in human nature.” (Patriot Ledger, April 12, 1996)

Super-liberal Bill Weld’s presidential candidacy is a bad joke. If he has a psychological need to seek elected office, he should run for commodore of a Massachusetts Bay Area Yacht Club.

George J. Marlin, a former executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is the author of "The American Catholic Voter: Two Hundred Years of Political Impact," and "Christian Persecutions in the Middle East: A 21st Century Tragedy." He is chairman of Aid to the Church in Need-USA. Mr. Marlin also writes for TheCatholicThing.org and the Long Island Business News. To read more George J. Marlin — Click Here Now.