Raise your hand if your beef with McCain is that he criticizes pork-barrel spending.

[Let the record show: No hands.]

That’s what I thought.

And yet this appears in today’s New York Times:

Rush Limbaugh, the conservative radio commentator, has warned that if Mr. McCain wins the nomination, “it’s going to destroy the Republican Party” because conservatives will desert in droves. Many object to his moderate views on immigration. Pro-business conservatives have attacked his positions on the environment, pointing to legislation Mr. McCain has co-sponsored to address climate change. Conservatives have also attacked his high-profile criticism of Republicans in Congress over pork barrel spending and of President Bush on the early conduct of the Iraq war.

Is that the conservative complaint about McCain — or even a conservative complaint against McCain? It certainly is not mine. And… in fact … even Mitt Romney has praised McCain, in his book, Turnaround, for being a “true fiscal watchdog.” (Ambinder points to some pro-McCain Romney remarks in the book here. There are others, along the same lines.)

Just another instance of the Times not getting a clear line to that exotic Planet Conservative?