Ben Romney: Father's ability to change his mind on certain issues "admirable"

CLEARWATER BEACH — Ben Romney didn’t want to wade too much into policy — or politics for that matter. But in a three-minute interview with Pure Politics on Tuesday, the second-youngest of Mitt and Ann Romney’s son defended his father’s ability to change his mind based on additional information.

Mitt Romney has been tagged by Democrats — and some Republicans — as a flip-flopper for changing his positions on assault weapons bans, his embrace of a mandate for individuals to have health insurance and on abortion. For instance, the elder Romney initially said he favored allowing a woman the right to choose an abortion in his 1994 U.S. Senate run, but has opposed allowing abortions over the last decade.

“I think it’s an admirable position to have an open mind at least,” Ben Romney said in a brief interview with Pure Politics. “There are issues where he’s changed his mind on. I think he’s changed them in the right direction. He took new information and was able to integrate it into his thinking. I think that’s admirable. I don’t think America wants somebody that’s so set in their ways they’re not going to listen to anyone else.”

And like a political pro, he deftly used an answer to a question about contrast between his father and President Barack Obama to talk about what he likes about his father’s approach.

Ben Romney spoke with Pure Politics after addressing the Kentucky delegation Tuesday morning at the group’s breakfast at its hotel in Clearwater Beach.