Weigel

Here was the key line in Mitt Romney's prepared remarks for CPAC.

I was a conservative governor. I fought against long odds in a deep blue state. I understand the battles that we, as conservatives, must fight because I have been on the front lines.

Here was how he actually delivered the first line.

I was a severely conservative governor.

My theory for why Romney delivered the line with the extra zest: He said "conservative" 26 times overall in the speech, as if using a Jungian mind trick to convince us that he had checked every possible box.