In case you missed it, I read through all of the editorial endorsements from papers that flipped from Obama ‘08 to Romney ‘12. Half of them explicitly argued that Romney would govern as a moderate because he was a clever flip-flopper who’d lied to win the GOP primary. One of my favorite endorsements hoped that, “if there are effective Democrats in the current Cabinet,” Romney would “keep them in place” – which he’s never said he’d do!
Ramesh Ponnuru posted a smart response to my toomfoolery. He argues that I was unfairly harsh on the “new” Romney’s answers, and that he didn’t really obscure unpopular conservative views on contraception and gay rights. I think he’s right on my language – maybe “gay nuptials” was the wrong phrase to describe what Romney opposes – but it’s true that Romney has committed to a raft of conservative pledges and stances, and you either think he bluffed those people or think he’s bluffing everybody else.
