Dan Balz reports:
The word "severely" did not appear in the prepared text of Romney’s speech that was distributed by his campaign. It was apparently ad-libbed by the former governor. No one could quite understand what severe conservatism really meant.
Piece of cake.
Romney was using "severe" in Webster's 6b sense: "inflicting pain or distress"; gobs of pain for us -- watching Romney's authentic attempts at simulation can be excruciating -- and oodles of distress for his party -- watching Romney's simulated attempts at authenticity must be excruciating.
As Balz also reports, last year at CPAC Romney "used the word 'conservative' once ... [and] the word 'conservatism' once"; this year he was liberal in their use to the point of profligacy.
Which indeed inflicts enormous distress. Here, for instance, is the voice of former senator John Danforth: "We have a cast of characters who are seeking the nomination, and none of them appears to most Republicans to be absolute standouts."
Oh, I forgot to mention, Danforth is a Romney-endorser.