KNOWLES: With Republicans Like Liz Cheney And Mitt Romney, Who Needs Democrats?

When Utah Republicans booed Mitt Romney off the stage at their party convention on Saturday, the Massachusetts governor-turned-Utah senator responded, “Oh yeah, you can boo all you like, but I’ve been a Republican all my life.” It was a bold claim from a man who famously has not voted for a Republican presidential nominee since he himself was on the ballot. But Romney’s defection from the GOP goes back even further than that.

In 1994, during his ill-fated run for Senate against Ted Kennedy in Massachusetts, Romney boasted of his liberal bona fides. “I believe that abortion should be safe and legal in this country,” Romney averred at one debate. “I was an independent during the time of Reagan-Bush! I’m not trying to return to Reagan-Bush!” he insisted at another. So he was, and indeed he did not. During the 1992 presidential primaries, Romney voted for Democrat senator Paul Tsongas. He joined the Republican Party in 1993 and was elected governor of Massachusetts in 2002 on a “progressive” platform, a promise he proved in 2006 when he enacted “Romneycare,” the healthcare reform that laid the groundwork for “Obamacare” three years later.