Mitt Romney received a warm reception before the crowd here at the Conservative Political Action Conference, with standing ovations before and after he spoke, and in several times in between. But compare his speech to his actual record, and it doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny.

His speech was an exercise in market-tested checklist conservatism – telling the audience what they wanted to hear. I counted 24 uses of the words “conservative” or “conservatism” in his speech. He promised to be a pro-life president who would fight for a federal marriage amendment and repeal Obamacare. He also said he was on the “same page” as Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on entitlement reform, an issue he spoke about to the conservative Americans for Prosperity in November, but has rarely discussed since on the campaign trail.