The silence is whorish. . .

. . .when it comes to the conservative media's treatment of Mitt Romney as a fiscal conservative. Here we have a Massachusetts governor who grossly underperformed all but two other states with regard to job creation, raised fees to the tune of $500 million (as though fees are paid by anybody other than taxpayers), and happened to be sitting in the right chair when $1.6 in capital gains revenue came pouring in (again, paid by taxpayers). The paltry decline in unemployment numbers in Massachusetts is largely the result of the 200,000 people who couldn't find jobs and fled the state.

And where are the howls of indignation over his promise to bail out the Big Three in Detroit? And what do all the talkers and scribblers think of his idea to have a little sit-down with insurance executives to see if we need a taxpayer subsidized insurance policy for people with beach-front property in hurricane-prone areas?

Ahh, but somehow McCain is the one who isn't the real conservative? When will the other candidates' records get the kind of scrutiny that McCain's has? When will someone cast even a slightly skeptical eye toward Romney?

If Mitt Romney is allowed to go through the primary process with this level of scrutiny, the establishment conservative media will have done far more damage to itself than they will ever be able to lay at the feet of John McCain.