Romney tweeted that South Carolina needs to take down the Confederate flag flying over the state capitol, aligning himself with the growing number of people calling for its removal after nine people were gunned down by a white man in a historically black church in Charleston this week.
Here is the tweet:
Take down the #ConfederateFlag at the SC Capitol. To many, it is a symbol of racial hatred. Remove it now to honor #Charleston victims.
- Mitt Romney (@MittRomney) June 20, 2015
Romney is one of the only Republican politicians to come out so strongly against the Confederate flag this week, but this isn't an issue that former governor Romney has recently evolved on. He's been saying this for years.
It was even a minor issue in the Republican primaries leading up to 2008 presidential campaign, when an interest group Americans for the Preservation of American Culture created several radio ads attacking both Romney and Senator John McCain for publicly coming out against South Carolina flying the Confederate flag.
A January 2008 article in the Washington Times says that, one of the ads has an announcer saying, "Romney let fly in a CNN debate, saying 'that flag shouldn't be flown' and 'that's not a flag I recognize.'"