[George W. Bush]

...Mitt Romney, by accusing him of “pandering for votes” in opposing the measure

If only Romney really was opposing it significantly. His appearance with Mark Levin was milquetoast. And Levin was slow-pitching right over the plate for him. Mitt bunted.

[Wallace T.]

Mitt Romney does not appear to have mastered conservative rhetoric and has not expressed his newly enunciated ideology with consistency or real passion. Other politicians such as Spiro Agnew and George W. Bush have been able to transform their political image into one of conservatism, though the latter is morphing back to his family’s Rockefeller Republican roots. The same is true of former moderate to conservative Democrats like Dick Gephardt and Al Gore, who moved leftward to accommodate their national ambitions. I hope he isn’t this decade’s equivalent of Dan Quayle, a physically attractive candidate who is inarticulate and gaffe prone.