Mitt Romney needs a, uh, posse?

Mitt Romney's 15 minutes of infamy over a four-month old video continues as conservatives weighed in with some criticism of their own over the Republican presidential candidate's comments. The Weekly Standard, the conservative Bible to some on the right (along with the Wall Street Journal's editorial page) offered these assessments:

From blogger John McCormack: "I was a severely conservative Republican governor," Mitt Romney told the crowd at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February 2012. Who says such a thing, McCormack asked. "The answer: The same kind of person who says, 'I'm not concerned about the very poor.' ...The same kind of person who says, 'Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low taxes doesn’t connect.... So my job is not to worry about those people. I’ll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.'

"These appear to be the words of somebody who doesn't understand American conservatism and its relationship to the American idea," McCormack continues. "Conservatives don't believe in economic determinism. Conservatives know--and explain why--their economic policies will help the poor, as well as senior citizens, working families, and our troops who pay no income taxes... The likely problem is that Mitt Romney is not a conservative - or at least wasn't a conservative until late in life - but he is running for president as the nominee of the conservative party on a conservative platform. So he has trouble defending conservative ideas. And when he sells himself to conservatives, he sometimes comes across as a right-wing caricature..."

Ouch.

From Bill Kristol, editor of the Standard: "It's worth recalling that a good chunk of the 47 percent who don't pay income taxes are Romney supporters — especially of course seniors (who might well 'believe they are entitled to heath care,' a position Romney agrees with), as well as many lower-income Americans (including men and women serving in the military) who think conservative policies are better for the country even if they're not getting a tax cut under the Romney plan. So Romney seems to have contempt not just for the Democrats who oppose him, but for tens of millions who intend to vote for him.

 "It remains important for the country that Romney wins in November (unless he chooses to step down and we get the Ryan-Rubio ticket we deserve!). But that shouldn't blind us to the fact that Romney's comments, like those of Obama four years ago (about some Americans being bitter and clinging to their guns and religion), are stupid and arrogant."

From blogger Stephen Hayes: "Romney here seems to be articulating a deeply pessimistic view of America and what makes it great... Romney seems to believe that those who are sucking at the public teat are forever destined to do so. 'My job is not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them that they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.'

"He is not saying that he’ll never convince these people that they should vote for him. He says, without qualification, that he’ll never convince them to take personal responsibility and care for their lives.

"If Romney truly believes that, then he shouldn’t be running for president."

Not all conservatives agree with these three. Many have come out swinging in defense of Romney and his assertion about a shiftless 47 percent. But these three join long-time conservative columnist Peggy Noonan, whose Tuesday column sums up conservative anxiety and frustration about Romney.

 "This is not how big leaders talk, it’s how shallow campaign operatives talk: They slice and dice the electorate like that, they see everything as determined by this interest or that," Noonan said.

Her prescription to "right the ship" - her words: "Be serious and fight.If you’re gonna lose, lose honorably. If you’re gonna win do it with meaning.

 "Romney always seems alone out there, a guy with a mic pacing an empty stage. All by himself, removed from the other humans. It’s sad-looking. It’s not working. Time for the party to step up. Romney should go out there every day surrounded with the most persuasive, interesting and articulate members of his party, the old ones, and I say this with pain as they’re my age, like Mitch Daniels and Jeb Bush, and the young ones, like Susana Martinez and Chris Christie and Marco Rubio—and even Paul Ryan. I don’t mean one of them should travel with him next Thursday, I mean he should be surrounded by a posse of them every day. Their presence will say, 'This isn’t about one man, this is about a whole world of meaning, this is about a conservative political philosophy that can turn things around and make our country better.' "

Posted by Fannie Flono