Scarborough: Saying Romney's not a conservative doesn't mean I'm not a conservative

In the latest sign that the general election campaign is beginning, Ed Gillespie, a lobbyist,  former Bush White House official and the ultimate Washington GOP insider, is joining the Mitt Romney campaign as it gears up to take on President Obama.

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With the GOP coalescing around Romney, Joe Scarborough is worried that in the name of unity, the party will turn on anyone who continues to point out Romney’s lack of conservative cred.

“The same people who were attacking [Romney] for not being a conservative,” Scarborough said on Morning Joe Thursday, “will now say that if you attack Mitt Romney, you’re a RINO, you’re not sufficiently conservative, you’re not a true believer. When of course the irony of this is that Mitt Romney’s not a true believer.”

Scarborough continued:

Don’t tell me I’m not a sufficient conservative. Don’t tell people that worked for Ronald Reagan they’re not sufficiently conservative. Don’t tell people that ran the ‘94  revolution that they’re not sufficiently conservative, if they tell the truth about Mitt Romney.

It’s not that Scarborough’s not backing Romney, of course.

You can support Mitt Romney and still say this is a guy that ran away from Ronald Reagan, this is a guy who was the intellectual architect of Obamacare, this is a guy who has flip-flopped on just about every issue that’s been before him in 20 years of politics. This guy is not a conservative.

There’s been some talk lately about the fact that many of Romney’s backers don’t sound all that enthusiastic about him. Jon Stewart even had some fun with the idea the other night. And it looks like Scarborough might fall into that same category.