[joesbucks]

Momentum was against Romeny in 08 as McCain carried Super Tuesday. So he dropped out. But it was just prior to Super Tuesday that Rush made the comments about Mitt meeting the three legs of conservatism. That was after several weeks and even months of saying don't hold Massachusetts governing against him as he had to govern as a moderate to win and then get things through a liberal Mass legislature.

And while his 08 CPAC speech was Reaganesque, was that the real Mitt or was that a speech designed to play to the CPAC crowd which is decidedly red meat or was Mitt really the much more liberal Massachusetts governor?

Rush's words about Mitt were a means to an end in both '08 and '12.

[C. Edmund Wright]

Couple things there. First, that Rush said those words in 08 and not 12 validates my point.

Second, he did govern Massachusetts to the RIGHT of the prevailing Massachusetts mood. He campaigned that way in a classic left-right campaign to win.

I don’t view the CPAC speech cynically at all. We get the truest read of our politicians the day they drop out of the race, and just let it rip. What ripped out of Mitt in early 08 was far more conservative than what has been ripping out of him since he lost 2012. He has moved left while the Republican base has moved right. Money and other dynamics of the field allowed him to win the nomination in 12, but he was a nominee not in the zeitgeist of his own party.