Years after the passage of Romneycare, during a far tougher election cycle for Republicans, and before Romney moved right in his rhetoric and policy positions for the present contest, these conservative opinion-makers insisted that he could beat Hilary Clinton or Barack Obama, that he was in fact a true conservative, and that he could be trusted to safeguard the GOP's soul.

Don't take my word for it -- look back at their words.

Rush Limbaugh deemed him an embodiment of every important aspect of conservatism.



I think now, based on the way the campaign has shaken out, that there probably is a candidate on our side who does embody all three legs of the conservative stool, and that's Romney. The three stools or the three legs of the stool are national security/foreign policy, the social conservatives, and the fiscal conservatives. The social conservatives are the cultural people. The fiscal conservatives are the economic crowd: low taxes, smaller government.

National Review endorsed him in an unsigned editorial.



Our guiding principle has always been to select the most conservative viable candidate. In our judgment, that candidate is Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts. Unlike some other candidates in the race, Romney is a full-spectrum conservative: a supporter of free-market economics and limited government, moral causes such as the right to life and the preservation of marriage, and a foreign policy based on the national interest," the magazine stated. "Romney is an intelligent, articulate, and accomplished former businessman and governor. At a time when voters yearn for competence and have soured on Washington because too often the Bush administration has not demonstrated it, Romney offers proven executive skill. He has demonstrated it in everything he has done in his professional life, and his tightly organized, disciplined campaign is no exception. He himself has shown impressive focus and energy. He knows that not every feature of the health-care plan he enacted in Massachusetts should be replicated nationally, but he can also speak with more authority than any of the other Republican candidates about this pressing issue. He would also have credibility on the economy, given his success as a businessman and a manager of the Olympics.

Said Laura Ingraham, announcing that she would vote Romney in the Washington, D.C., Republican primary, "No doubt about it, no hesitation. On the issues of national security and traditional marriage Romney stood up and he fought ..." In the same radio segment, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, who some conservatives preferred in this year's primaries, said the following about Romney:



What I know I have seen over the past 9 or 10 months now is a guy that has gone through that pressure cooker, who has developed a passion, who understands why he is a conservative, and understands the issues -- how they weave together, and what America -- you know, conservatives are about traditional values and a traditional way of American life. And I think he understands that. It's not just in his head anymore. It's in his heart .... He's proved to me that this is someone, in his heart, he told me last night that he was going to fight until the end, that this is for the soul of the Republican Party, and it is .... He understands the national security piece .... I walked away [from a meeting with Romney] saying I can check that box. This guy really gets it. He understands it. He has a depth of knowledge about it. He knows what it means to be a commander in chief under these circumstances .... If you're a conservative there's only one place to go right now .... and that's Mitt Romney.



Sean Hannity announced on his show that he would vote Romney rather than backing Rudy Giuliani. Glenn Beck supported him too. Ditto Bill Bennett and Dennis Prager. Even Mark Levin, the least enthusiastic of Romney's supporters, said, "The only one left standing, the only one, after all these weeks of voting, who can honestly be said to share most, most of our conservative principles is Romney," also remarking that "When you look at Romney -- that's one of the things that struck me sitting next to him, a gentleman, a class act. Didn't attack in any personal way. I mean we're talking about president of the United States potentially here, ladies and gentlemen."