Who's the conservative Republican here, anyway?

The Associated Press

They're smiling, not bearing their fangs.

Featured Topic | Posted 22 weeks 1 day ago

Who's the conservative Republican here, anyway?

"If you get endorsed by the New York Times," Mitt Romney told John McCain at Wednesday night's Republican debate, "you're probably not a conservative."

"Let me note that I was endorsed by your two hometown newspapers who know you best," McCain replied, "including the very conservative Boston Herald who know you well better than anybody."

A newspaper's editorial endorsement may not be the last word on who is or isn't a conservative, but the question of who's the most conservative Republican contender for the White House is spurring hot debate. As it should.

Is McCain conservative? Is Romney? Or has the very word "conservative" changed meaning?

Ben likes: Is McCain a conservative?

Robert Novak/The Washington Post

Conservatives among want two assurances: first, that McCain would veto any tax increase passed by a Democratic Congress; second, that he would not emulate Gerald R. Ford and George H.W. Bush in naming liberal Supreme Court justices such as John Paul Stevens and David Souter.

Joel likes: Florida postmortem

Scott Lemieux/Tapped

It should be easy for conservatives to get over their McCain issues since overall he was always the most conservative of the major candidates, but of course if these pundits were rational they would already see that.

And if Democrats give the GOP the gift of Clinton, which still seems very likely, these pundits can pretty much ignore McCain and focus entirely on Hillary Clinton's purported Trotskyism, murder and drug running operations, "shrillness," her husband's penis, etc.