When the Friend of My Friend Is My Enemy?
August 31st, 2011




Watching the various comments tick in on the big Romney post, I’m struck by one thing: The Romney boosters seem to be of two camps–people who believe Romney is a real-deal conservative and people who believe that Romney is the only sane person in a Republican party dominated by crazy, real-deal conservatives. Essentially, Romney-supporting commenters represent the two divergent views of David Frum  and Hugh Hewitt concerning Romney.

I wonder if the presence of the other side under the Romney banner gives either one pause, since Frum and Hewitt see each other as representing everything wrong with the GOP/conservatism. After all, they can’t both be right about Romney, can they? Either he is a Frum Republican or a Hewitt Republican.



  1. mrmandias August 31, 2011 at 8:10 pm

    I sorta half-favor Romney because I can’t stand any of the other current candidates. As for what kind of Republican Romney is, I’d say neither Frum nor Hewitt. I’d say GB I. Yes, he is just that exciting.

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  3. Angus September 1, 2011 at 2:34 am

    That’s why Perry’s entry into the race is good for Huntsman. Every week Perry outpolls him, Romney has an increased incentive to stake out ever more rightward positions to eat into Perry’s support. His problem is that doing so magnifies the tension between his own two bases of support, as outlined by you, and gets Huntsman a serious second look by the substantial chunk of Romney supporters who back him because they think he’s lying when he says he’s a conservative.

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  5. A. Knowing Futurist September 1, 2011 at 5:16 pm

    That’s right, Ang. Perry was exactly the big event that Huntsman the seasoned motorcross racer and enthusiast was waiting for. Now the surge begins.
    When Huntsman absorbs a large chunk of Romney’s huge core base of comfortably moderate conservatives he will become a beast unleashed, stoppable only by whatever formidable momentum romney still has left in march. Then. it. will. be. on. Watch out!

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  7. Evan September 2, 2011 at 1:45 am

    I’m not convinced that Frum and Hewitt’s views on Romney are actually divergent, at least nothing in the proffered links suggests it.

    And I can’t speak for all the Romney boosters, but the real debate is obviously about the definition of a “real-deal conservative.” Romney critics seem to be of two camps (or maybe it’s just a matter of degree): he’s not conservative because he doesn’t put guns, abortion, and evangelical Christianity first -or- he isn’t a “true believer” in any sense and is thus inauthentic. I am (was?) doing the Romney critics a kindness by not adding “hatred of Mormons” to the list.

    This might be more suited for the “core constituency” post, but the people who differentiate between what is needed at different levels of government (i.e. those who truly grasp federalism) and are concerned more with actually winning the general election than with laughable purity standards tend to be Romney fans.

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  9. Jason O. September 6, 2011 at 8:40 am

    What if I kept checking this website for more juicy Romney stuff and there was exactly squat in terms of new items?

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  11. Galley Wife September 6, 2011 at 4:31 pm

    You could blame Galley Wife and Galley Toddler #1, who had the stomach flu. Also, Labor Day.

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