FLASHBACK: The Case for Rick Perry. “Despite cheer-leading from the likes of Kathryn Jean Lopez and Jennifer Rubin, Mitt Romney has always struck me as a phony without any real core convictions except that he should be in charge; sort of the Republican answer to Bill Clinton, without the charm or adultery. Pick an issue and Romney’s been on both sides of it at one time or another. He seems the most likely of all the major candidates to be praised by The New York Times and The Washington Post for ‘growing’ in office.”

Well, that last bit certainly turned out to be prophetic — and Romney didn’t even have to get elected president first. Although it helped that he sold out the current occupant of the Oval Office.