The Establishment Moves Rightward (Shrink from the left, shift to the right)

National Review ^ | 12/28/2011 | Jonah Goldberg

[C. Edmund Wright]

I had forgotten about Mitt and ethanol pandering.

But as to him in 08 versus today: in 08 he clearly was more conservative overall than McCain - and on all economic and regulatory issues clearly more than Huckabee. He was in the middle of the field for conservatism overall and the most conservative of the final 3.

This cycle he’s cynically moved to be the most moderate-liberal of the field with the possible exception of Huntsman on some issues. And clearly in tone with the exception of Huntsman. It is how he has positioned himself - moving left while the electorate and the over all field moves right ,that REALLY aggrevates me.

[Windflier]

I thought I was right about Mitt, but I am guessing that he is a bad as his dad was.

This website is quite possibly the finest resource on the internet, where it comes to amassing data about politicians and government.

Use the search bar in the upper right hand corner of the front page to find articles and editorials about Mitt Romney. Use the drop down menu button to choose 'keywords' and enter "Romney". You'll get back hundreds of results.

Read through a half dozen threads, and you'll soon get a sense of what I said in my prior post. Mitt is no conservative. Not even close.

[Cacique]

Btt

[Sideshow Bob]

What a load of crap from Goldberg!!!

Jonah, I will stop short of calling you a RINO or of not being a real conservative, but you've created the classic media (and NRO) strawman by conflating "conservative" with "Republican" in discussing the establishment.

Goldberg calls it the conservative establishment. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A "CONSERVATIVE" ESTABLISHMENT!!!

There is only the Republican establishment which aligns itself with the party's conservative base usually close to every election cycle and then discards us as needed once elections are done they are safely back in office for another term.

And this Establishment class is rooted in their smug superiority of economic or social class, education, region (East Coast corridor), religion (or lack thereof) and profession. The Republican Establishment would rather be "liked" by others within these groups than with the more conservative rubes from flyover country.

Most conservatives are adult enough to understand that no nominee is ever going to be "THE perfect" candidate, but there is also no doubt that nearly every nomination cycle we end up with some RINO nominee largely because conservative candidates are savaged by the media (which sadly now includes too many "conservative" media outlets like NRO).

True conservatives are by definition incapable of thinking in such a way, therefore it is impossible for there to be an "establishment" of any kind when it comes to conservatives. We are by definition individualistic and find such ruling class predilections distasteful if not offensive to our very core beliefs.

And Goldberg (and Rich Lowry, Anne Coulter, Ramesh and the other Romneybot sell-outs at NRO) should know better.