Conservative GOP paper notes Barletta flip-flop.

Pennsylvanians in the 11th Congressional District should be very skeptical about which Lou Barletta is running against the ethically challenged Rep. Paul Kanjorski.

Is it the Barletta who in 2002 claimed he supported individual retirement accounts? Or the Barletta who now claims he doesn't?

Mr. Barletta, the Republican Hazleton mayor who's courageously opposed the flood of illegal aliens in his city, had favored allowing people to divert part of their Social Security payroll taxes into government-controlled individual retirement accounts invested in government-backed securities or bonds, according to The Times-Tribune of Scranton.

That was when he had run against Rep. Kanjorski in 2002.

Barletta believes that his solution -- which would have empowered individuals to do what's best for themselves -- cost him the election.

To assure voters that principles will not interfere with politics this time, Barletta now says he's "against privatizing Social Security. I am against personal savings accounts. How much clearer can I be?"

Crystal clear, Mr. Mayor.

"The public has said it's against personal accounts so let's take that idea off the table," Barletta adds.

If public opinion polls are, in fact, his moral compass, there's little wonder that preserving a principled stand about fixing Social Security now seems so alien to Barletta.