On George Will claiming that Newt isn't a conservative

George Will consistently supported Gerald Ford over Ronald Reagan during the 1976 Republican Presidential primaries. Here are some examples of his writing and the discussions it engendered.

From the St. Petersburg Times January 21, 1976

Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Feb 1, 1976
Here is another piece by Will available here (Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Jan 23, 1976).

In 1979, Will was still critical of Reagan and happily taking Ford's statements about Reagan as accurate (Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Sep 4, 1979). Here is a piece where Will was relatively positive about Howard Baker as the 1980 Republican presidential candidate (Sarasota Herald-Tribune - Mar 10, 1979).

Will likes Romney, and (correctly) attacked Newt for going after Romney's business decisions to lay off workers. But I might also add that Mitt Romney attacking Newt over his wealth hardly seems like a conservative line of attack. From CBS News:

In the wake of his attempt to make a $10,000 bet with Rick Perry during Saturday's Republican presidential debate - a move that put a spotlight on Romney's $190 million-plus net worth and prompted critics to cast him as out of touch - the former Massachusetts governor told CBS News on Wednesday that his chief rival for the nomination is a "very wealthy man."

"Newt Gingrich has wealth from having worked in government," Romney told CBS News political correspondent Jan Crawford in an interview in New York. "He's a wealthy man, a very wealthy man. If you have a half a million dollar purchase from Tiffany's, you're not a middle class American." . . .