Today's Political Comedy

In an article about who a New Hampshire Republican party official will support in 2012 we get this snippet:

“He’s a nice guy. But there’s a number of guys I’d vote for. He’s not one of them,” Wrobleski said of Pawlenty. “I don’t think he’s conservative enough.

So, Wrobleski, a supporter of Mitt Romney, in explaining his reasons for not voting for Tim Pawlenty says he's not conservative enough. Pawlenty is not charismatic. He's not exciting. He's probably not one of my first choices, but Pawlenty is about as conservative a candidate as you're going to find from Minnesota. What makes this funny is the comment coming from a Romney supporter. However Romney is selling himself these days don't let anyone fool you into believing he is an arch-conservative. Heck, when he ran against Ted Kennedy for the U.S. Senate he tried to position himself to Kennedy's left on some issues and then as governor of Massachusetts he led the way to enactment of a state health care overhaul used as a blueprint for Obama-Care. You can support Romney for various reasons. Whether you like his business acumen or you think his competent demeanor would be a sharp contrast to President Obama, there are legitimate reasons some might choose to back his doomed run for the presidency. However, claiming his potential primary opponents are not conservative enough will just get you laughed at as a fool.

On that point, if, as it appears, the health care nonsense is going to be a key issue in 2012, then Mitt Romney would be the worst candidate for the Republicans to run. How will House and Senate candidates reconcile support for the national ticket with hammering their opponent on their vote for HCR. It is very difficult to beat an incumbent president, but you don't pick a nominee who will undermine down ticket candidates.