Keene endorses Romney, Powerline leaning …

Following up on his shocking comment that Giuliani “may be a little dangerous,” Paul of Powerline approvingly reports David Keene’s endorsement of Romney:

Keene’s endorsement is evidence that, late in the day, conservatives realize that this may well come down to a race between Giuliani and Romney, two men who governed as centrists, and that, as I wrote yesterday, it may make sense to prefer the top-tier candidate who now commits to conservative positions down the line to the one who says, in essence, “I was a great mayor; take me as you find me.”

The reasoning is reasonable. I still am very curious to know what made Paul go so far as to describe as “dangerous” the overwhelmingly favored candidate of the neocon establishment, of which he himself is a loyal member. Whatever the cause, Paul’s move away from Giuliani is a very good sign. Romney is far from ideal (and may be unacceptable from a traditionalist point of view); but, as I’ve been saying for the last year, a Giuliani nomination and election would represent nothing less than the expulsion of conservatism from mainstream American politics. More and more conservatives seem to be realizing this.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at November 29, 2007 03:00 PM | Send