A few points.
1) NRO might as well have been known as Romney Headquarters. And would have been, if not for Hugh Hewitt. They aren’t objective sources where the man is concerned.
2) I was a Thompson supporter and remember quite well the tactics employed by the Romney camp and sycophants against him so if I find it conceivable that the same is being done to Palin when I see the same people going after her, well, I think the suspicion is justified.
3) Whether Romney has officially sanctioned the attacks or not, and let’s just say he is not supportive. What does it say about the man that these are the people he commands the loyalty of? If Clinton’s associates were fair game in judging his character, and Obama’s associates are fair in judging his, then Romney’s people are the same. And, no, I’m not comparing Parker to Ayers. But a part of GWB’s main failing has been surounding himself with the wrong people that inevitably turned on him or persuaded him into the wrong course of action. Romney’s surrogates do not bring comfort.
4) Romney is not a conservative. And this really is why I’ll never support the man. I don’t buy the 11th hour conversion when he decided to run for the W.H. You can all say in 2012 he’ll have years under his belt as a practicing conservative but, not really. He won’t be holding office to test this conversion’s truth and he’s still running for office. There’s no way to prove the conversion isn’t politically motivated and I don’t see why I should take it on faith when we’ll have real proven conservatives as options in ‘12.
The anti-Fred rumors from last summer were from Mike Murphy a former disgruntled McCain aide who had left the campaign and gone DEM. Novak accidentally attributed the rumors to a Romney aide. A few days later the truth came out about who it actually was and Novak said as much. But of course just like the latest rumors the truth gets lost in there somewhere. The media played it for all it was worth and many here on FR took the bait hook line and sinker, just like the latest rumors this last week. The latest anti Palin Romney aide rumor turned out to be a former Bush Aide Nicolle Wallace who worked for CBS.
Its predictable the left will try to divide us right now. What isn't predictable is how many FReepers are buying these rumors days before the election.
BTW, most of us former Romney supporters would be very happy right now if FRed or Palin were at the top of the ticket right now. I had quite a few good discussions with Fred supporters when I volunteered in Iowa. True to identity politics they were sensible, strong, sure and conservative.