Just now, during his address to the CPAC convention, Mitt Romney described the "difficult decision" he had to make, remarking that "because I love America, I feel I must now stand aside." Romney then linked his own presidential campaign with a larger effort to fight the war on terror: "We cannot allow the next president of the United States to stand aside in the face of extremism," Romney said, echoing Goldwater's "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice."
Romney offered little in the way of reconciliation with John McCain, except that conservatives should unite behind their nominee to defeat either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton, although he did say that he agrees with McCain on one issue: doing whatever it takes to win in Iraq.
--Mori Dinauer
