Mitt Romney’s famous about faces on key issues has many tongues wagging as the presidential campaign heads for the home stretch.

* He once believed that humans caused climate change; now he says it’s bunk.

* Mitt once thought we could institute “reasonable” controls on guns; he now opposes that, too.

* Romney rammed through a comprehensive health care reform for his state, which served as the model for President Obama’s own national program; now he wants to repeal “Obamacare.”

* Romney once espoused a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion; he now vows to select judges who would repeal Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in this country.

But he’s not the first Republican politician to switch so dramatically, particularly on abortion.

My favorite GOP flip-flopper is the 41st president of the U.S., George H.W. Bush.

Let’s flash back to 1980. Ronald Reagan was about to be nominated for president by the Republican Party. The Gipper was shopping around for a running mate. He actually negotiated with former President Gerald Ford about taking the job; Ford declined, not wanting to play second fiddle to the guy who almost defeated him for the GOP nomination in 1976.

So, Reagan turned to Bush. One little problem emerged, though. Bush was strongly pro-choice. Were he to take the job as Reagan’s VP, he’d have to change his mind on abortion – immediately. Bush did. He became adamantly pro-life the instant he said “yes” to The Gipper.

No one seemed to mind at the time. And that makes me wonder if the flip-flop charge against Romney is going to matter so much.

In my mind, it should. A politician should stand by his/her beliefs.

And just how strongly did Bush believe in a woman’s right to choose? When he served in the U.S. House in the late 1960s representing the Houston area, he acquired a nickname owing to his strong support of women’s reproductive rights.

His congressional colleagues called him “Rubbers.”