California Conservative

I’ve ripped Hugh Hewitt more than a few times, sometimes because he’s ignored Romney’s liberalism, sometimes for Romney’s flip-flops. Now I’m indicting Mr. Hewitt for pulling a NY Times-styled stunt: He isn’t talking about O’MITT’s truth-telling troubles. I posted about Romney’s embellishment troubles here. Imagine my not being surprised that those troubles didn’t make it into Hugh’s Romney talking points today. Mr. Hewitt did find time to write about (surprise, surprise) how wonderfully everything’s shaping up for Mitt here:

Expect Romney to fiercely defend this lead even as he attempts a comeback in Iowa. Romney has the best position, at or near the top of the first three contests, plenty of money, and a lot more story to tell. He’s absorbed every hit the field could deliver including the latest silly debate over whether his father was with Martin Luther King in the civil rights movement. The anti-Romney spammers fill my e-mail box with accusations, and the mature voters laugh and laugh at them.

I’m one of those ’spammers’ that just happens to think that honesty matters. I’m someone that thinks that credibility matters. Mitt doesn’t have any credibility. Neither does Mr. Hewitt. In fact, Mr. Hewitt’s approaching laughingstock status on the blogosphere.

• How many people think that Romney’s fibbing about getting the NRA’s endorsement is “silly”?
• How many people think that Romney’s inability to credibly answer when his abortion transformation actually happened is “silly”?
• How many people think that Romney’s Second Amendment troubles are “silly”?

People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

People don’t want to be led by someone that might or might not head in the direction you want. Mitt Romney has a serious embellishment problem. Considering all the money he’s dumped into Iowa and New Hampshire, he should be miles ahead in both states. Instead, he’s trailing Mike Huckabee in Iowa and clinging to a shrinking lead in New Hampshire.

Here’s where Hewitt sounds most defensive:

It is, in short, an election about an enormous array of very complicated issues. Voters are serious and informed in ways they have never been before, and the first GOP primary in the era of new media does not allow the absurd to derail the serious.

Mr. Hewitt’s right that this is an election about serious things. That’s why Fred Thompson will do far better than Hewitt is letting on. As I said here, Fred Thompson is the gold standard on the full spectrum of issues, whether we’re talking immigration reform and border enforcement, foreign policy, especially Iran and Iraq, or limited government conservatism or nominating and confirming strict constructionist judges.

Hewitt’s characterization of Gov. Romney’s credibility problems as absurd is pure spin. There’s nothing absurd about it. In fact, it’s the main reason why Gov. Romney hasn’t come close to closing the deal with voters.

In Hewitt’s rose-colored world, conservative activists think of MittCare as being a Godsend. In the real world, conservatives ask “Can you picture Ronald Reagan signing MittCare into law?”

In Hewitt’s rose-colored world, conservative activists think that Romney’s explanations on his abortion flip-flops aren’t a big deal. In the real world, conservatives ask why they should believe Romney when he can’t give a credible answer on the matter. (BTW, if Romney’s so solidly pro life, why is Fred piling up the state right to life endorsements while Romney is getting shut out? It couldn’t be that absurd credibility thing, could it? Or might it be that flip-flop thing?)

All that Mr. Hewitt has done is talk horserace and money. He’s clearly avoided talking about Fred Thompson’s depth of understanding on the gamut of issues. He’s trashed McCain, justifiably in my opinion, over the Gang of 14, McCain-Feingold and the McCain-Kennedy immigration fiasco. He’s justifiably trashed Huckabee’s foreign policy ditherings. But the most that he’s said about Fred Thompson was his Harry Reid-like prediction that “Fred didn’t rally.”

Hugh, let’s talk about that prediction 2 weeks from now.

Thus Romney’s support has and will remain solid, and may even grow as focus on the challenges ahead underscore the importance of smarts and competence married to energy and a presidential appearance.

With all due respect to Mr. Hewitt, objective people don’t agree with any part of that assessment. Here’s what JB Williams said about the volatility of Romney’s support:

In short, Romney’s support is very volatile. In fact, main stream Republicans, even those who have polled for the top tier candidates for months, continue to shift around from perceived “front-runner” to the “front-runner” of the week. The top four are secure as only the top four. But who in the top four will ultimately emerge as the nominee remains totally fluid.

Here’s what he said about Romney’s “looking presidential”:

Romney “looks” Presidential. But Thompson “is” Presidential. That’s not only my opinion, it’s a fact…

All it takes to look presidential is the money for a fancy wardrobe and a good makeup team. To be presidential takes much, much more. Here’s what Tim Carney with Human Events wrote about Sen. Thompson:

The “X factor” in this race is former Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.). Most Iowa Republicans did not even mention his name in discussing candidates they supported or opposed. He simply does not register in the minds of potential GOP caucus-goers, but when asked about him, voters have little negative to say.

Thompson has far more upside potential than any other Republican, and he is spending the entire final stretch in the Hawkeye State. Thompson has perhaps the most broadly conservative record of any candidate besides the three congressmen (see below). Many conservative Iowans currently settling for Romney, Giuliani or Huckabee (or planning a protest vote of sorts for one of the congressmen) could certainly jump on board with Thompson. If he defies his reputation as a lazy worker, he could make a spectacular surge here.

Here’s what Carney said about Romney:

The top candidates have downsides on policy; former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is seen as a flip-flopper, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani is socially liberal and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee believes in big government, and electability: Romney’s Mormonism, Giuliani’s marriages and Huckabee’s lack of funds and overt religiosity.

In other words, Romney’s support isn’t nearly as rock solid as Hewitt led us to believe. (Must be that “absurd” credibility thing raising its ugly head again.) In fact, Carney’s thoughts on the volatility of Romney’s support sounds suspiciously similar to JB Williams’ opinions.

I’ll just pose this last question to Mr. Hewitt: How can you say that Mitt Romney is a conservative after he signed the MittCare health insurance bill? Ronald Reagan would’ve vetoed that bill within 10 seconds of it reaching his desk.

Finally, I’ll just say this: The wheels aren’t coming off of Romney’s conservative ‘bus’ because that bus never existed outside of Hugh Hewitt’s rose-colored world. Anyone that’d have us believe that a governor (a) with Second Amendment troubles with the NRA, (b) that signs state-mandated health care that includdes abortion coverage and (c) that isn’t a federalist is a conservative is simply fooling themselves.

UPDATE: Mitt Rommney digs himself even deeper on ’seeing’ his father, George Romney march with MLK in this YouTube video:

Sounds like Hugh Hewitt isn’t the only person with rose-colored glasses troubles.

Technorati Tags: Mitt Romney, RINO, Flip-Flops, RomneyCare, Hugh Hewitt, Agenda Media, Iowa Caucuses, Fred Thompson, Federalist, Second Amendment, Gravitas, Immigration, Iran, Conservative, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Friday, December 21st, 2007 at 1:57 pm and is filed under Activism, Author: Gary Gross, Blogging, Election 2008, Foreign Policy, Health Care, Immigration, Iran, Iraq, Liberals, Media, Terrorism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.