Remember George Romney? If you don’t, he was the politically moderate and craggily handsome Governor of Michigan who was a serious candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 1968.

Then came the infamous interview.

Romney was asked to explain why he had switched from supporting to opposing American involvement in Vietnam. According to Romney, his previous support was the result of his having been given –- in his words –- “the greatest brainwashing that anybody can get” when he visited the country in 1965.

Romney might have lost the nomination in any event. But if he had simply said that he had changed his mind on the issue, instead of trying to pin the responsibility on the military officers who briefed him, he might at least have spared himself the avalanche of ridicule that the “brainwashing” remark brought down on his head.

Overnight, Romney –- a decent, intelligent man and respected public servant –- was reduced to a figure of malicious fun. “Heard about poor George Romney?” ran a popular joke of the period. “Since they washed his brain he can’t do a thing with it.”

You would think an object lesson like that would have taught George’s son Mitt the importance of taking responsibility for his public stands. But it didn’t.

Mitt, a successful governor, political moderate and presidential aspirant like his father, led the charge against gay marriage in Massachusetts in the hope of winning points with the Religious Right. The gambit appeared to be working. But then a letter he wrote in 1994 in support of gay rights came to light earlier this month.

As a candidate for Senator, running against Ted Kennedy, Romney sent a letter to the Log Cabin Club of Massachusetts, a gay Republican group, in which he promised to outdo Kennedy in promoting gay concerns. “For some voters, it might be enough to simply match my opponent’s record in this area,” Romney enthused. “But I believe we can and must do better. If we are to achieve the goals we share, we must make equality for gays and lesbians a mainstream concern. My opponent cannot do this. I can and will.”

The revelation of this letter put Romney in a crossfire. Gay groups and their friends called Romney a hypocrite, while the grand inquisitors of the Religious Right told him, as Ricky used to tell Lucy, that he had some “’splainin” to do.

So Romney ‘splained away.

In a statement issued yesterday, Romney said that there was no inconsistency in his position on gay issues: He was opposed –- no, wait, his exact words were that he was “not in favor” of discrimination of any kind, including discrimination based on sexual preference. And he said that he was also committed to preserving traditional marriage as a union of one man and one woman.

In short, he tried to duck the issue by pretending that there was no contradiction between his earlier and later positions.

Sorry, Governor, it won’t wash. You said in your 1994 letter that you supported “equality” for gays and lesbians. The principle of equal rights includes the right to marry. Also, when you said you were “not in favor” of discrimination based on “sexual preference” you were sending another mixed signal. Sexual orientation implies a condition that at person cannot control. Sexual “preference” implies a choice. You were offering a sop to the Religious Right while hoping that the gay lobby wouldn’t notice the subtle distinction.

You flip-flopped, Governor, and then you tried to avoid responsibility for it. Your campaign for President will probably come to the same end as your dad's -- and you will have even less excuse.