Each election year, folks in the hierarchies of the political parties duel to the death over what's going to be contained in the official party platform. Tempers flare. Threats are made. Some even warn they may not support the ticket if this or that is in the platform.
Then the party selects its nominees…or as has become the norm the last few decades, it rubber-stamps the already-selected nominees. The nominees then pledge to run on that platform and to attempt to achieve its goals…
…and then everyone just forgets about it and they do whatever they want.
That seems to be about the way it works with both major parties and probably the minor ones, too. The anti-abortion planks of the G.O.P. platform, now being drafted, contain no exception for rape. Rape suddenly got bigger the other day and hurriedly, Romney and Ryan came out with a statement: "A Romney-Ryan administration would not oppose abortion in instances of rape." This is not, by the way, an inconsistency for Mr. Romney but it's a sudden conversion for Mr. Ryan who a week or two ago thought it was indistinguishable from murder. Oh, well. If I had a chance at the vice-presidency, I'd probably reverse some of the deeply-held views that I've long believed came from God, too.
Okay: So Romney-Ryan would not oppose abortion in the case of rape. But they're going to pledge to run on a platform that would, and which also contains many provisions at odds with their positions. The premise here is that the candidate is supposed to follow the dictates of the platform…but none of them ever do. No one is going to look at that platform as a guide to what Romney-Ryan will do about immigration or health care or Afghanistan or ordering lunch.
I remember when Bob Dole was the nominee, he was asked about an item in the platform that was at odds with his position and he said something like, "I'm the candidate. The platform isn't the candidate." And he said he hadn't read it even though he'd pledged to support it.
No one thought this was odd or an example of a flip-flop or anything. If Barack Obama signed a petition when he was 14 to ban assault weapons, that's taken as a firm indication that he still believes that and is trying to make it happen. But if he deviates from the party platform he vows to uphold this year, no big deal. Same with Republicans. It's just your party's official platform you swore to follow. It's not like it's a Grover Norquist pledge or anything.