Ann and Jennifer: The new Romney fan club

Matt K. Lewis Senior Contributor
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What is it about Mitt Romney that engenders such blind loyalty among a handful of conservative pundits?

Last time around, Hugh Hewitt and NRO’s Kathryn Lopez led the “The Romney Fan Club.” This time around, Ann Coulter and the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin seem to have consumed the largest amounts of the Romney Kool-Aid.

In the process, Coulter has adopted some unusual stances in order to boost Mitt, including defending health care mandates. This is not the work of a rational conservative.

Meanwhile, Rubin has ended up with egg on her face. When it first appeared Newt Gingrich would receive Donald Trump’s endorsement, she wrote a post titled, “Egomaniacs R Us: Trump to pick Newt,” arguing that Gingrich “attracts the unserious, the unpresidential, the uninformed and the unpalatable all in one convenient locale.” (I wonder how she feels now that Romney received The Donald’s backing?)

For now, at least, conservatives seem to be more understanding of Ann’s eccentricities. “Coulter has deserved and long-established conservative credentials,” says Dan Gainor, a vice president at the Media Research Center. “Perhaps her comments simply reflect the overall need of the right to get behind who she perceives as the most electable candidate,” he reasoned.

Gainor was less forgiving of Rubin, however, implying that her transparent cheer-leading might actually create a backlash: “Romney has some strong things to say about business and success in America,” he said, “but when they come from Rubin, who gets her paycheck from the liberal Washington Post, he actually sounds less credible.”

Matt K. Lewis