George Will says Mitt Romney is hurting conservatism. Does it matter?
Conservative columnist George Will says Mitt Romney 鈥渋s a recidivist reviser of his principles who is not only becoming less electable; he might damage GOP chances of capturing the Senate.鈥�
Don鈥檛 hold back, Mr. Will, tell us more about the man who would be president:
鈥淩epublicans may have found their Michael Dukakis,鈥� , 鈥渁 technocratic Massachusetts governor who takes his bearings from 鈥榙ata鈥� 鈥� and who believes elections should be about (in Dukakis鈥檚 words) 鈥榗ompetence,鈥� not 鈥榠deology.鈥� 鈥� Has conservatism come so far, surmounting so many obstacles, to settle, at a moment of economic crisis, for this?鈥�
People pay attention to Will 鈥� a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist syndicated by the Washington Post and a regular TV news analyst for ABC once described by the Wall Street Journal as "perhaps the most powerful journalist in America.鈥�
Apparently, what鈥檚 gotten under Will鈥檚 skin is what he says is Romney鈥檚 penchant for 鈥渟traddling鈥� issues, sometimes ending up with a 鈥減olicy pretzel.鈥�
Will may be unfairly harsh (he sometimes writes as if he鈥檚 just sucked a lemon or his tie is too tight), but he does reflect concern among other prominent conservatives.
鈥淐onsider, for example, a few pages from the opposition research book the McCain camp prepared against Mitt Romney in 2008,鈥� Erick Erickson of RedState.com . 鈥淭here was on Romney鈥檚 flip-flops.鈥�
鈥淭he most striking thing to me is that some of Mitt Romney鈥檚 positions have flipped again for 2012,鈥� Erickson writes. 鈥淩omney has a real trust problem he has to overcome. It seems too much an opportunist. Republicans are happy to support him, but they sure don鈥檛 want to settle for him.鈥�
That鈥檚 the view of many neutral observers as well.
鈥淓ven as Republicans come around to the idea that Romney may be their strongest opponent for President Obama, many are still convinced that a Romney presidency would represent a historic missed opportunity for the right,鈥� at Politico.com. 鈥淕eorge Will may be the most important establishment voice to come out and say so directly.鈥�
There was evidence of that in Saturday鈥檚 Iowa Poll, which had Romney one point behind Herman Cain (23-22 percent among likely participants in Iowa鈥檚 Republican nominating caucuses next January).
鈥淭he survey lays bare some serious vulnerabilities for the steady-as-he-goes Romney, despite months among the leaders of national polls and the plaudits he鈥檚 won as a debater,鈥� writes Jennifer Jacobs, chief political writer for the Des Moines Register, the newspaper which sponsors the Iowa Poll. 鈥淭he former Massachusetts governor earns the support of just 10 percent of those who say they definitely plan to vote in the caucuses (Cain is at 27 percent). And Cain dominates Romney among those who identify themselves as very conservative, by more than 3 to 1.鈥�
鈥淎nother factor favoring Cain over Romney: More than half of likely caucus goers think a representative of the core conservative base can win the White House in 2012,鈥� Jacobs writes. 鈥淥nly a third see a need to select a more moderate candidate with appeal to independents.
Trying to appeal to that core conservative base usually means appearances on Fox News. (And if things don鈥檛 work out in the elections, you can always get a nicely-paid gig like Mike Huckabee or Sarah Palin.)
Having talked at length with Rick Perry Sunday, Fox News host Chris Wallace took a poke at Romney about that.
"With Governor Perry's appearance, we have now interviewed all of the major Republican candidates in our 2012 one-on-one series except Mitt Romney," Wallace said. "He's not appeared on this program or any Sunday talk show since March of 2010. We invited Governor Mitt Romney again this week, but his campaign says he's still not ready to sit down for an interview."
One more thing that probably didn鈥檛 make Mitt Romney鈥檚 day.
When you do an Internet search for 鈥淩omney can win,鈥� Google suggests that you may have mistyped that and comes back with the results for 鈥淩omney 肠补苍鈥檛 飞颈苍.鈥�
Nothing politically underhanded or Freudian there, says Google.
"Our spellcheck feature is automated, and while no algorithm is perfect, we're always working to improve our search quality," a Google spokesperson told CBS鈥檚 Political Hotsheet. "Last year, we launched roughly 500 improvements to our search algorithm."
