Meckler, whose Tea Party Patriots is an umbrella organization for thousands of local groups, suggested Romney missed a great opportunity, especially during the health care battle, to come before tea partiers and argue against the bill.

“I think he was probably the perfect guy to make the argument,” Meckler said. Romney, he said, could have talked about how he knows from personal experience that the policies in the health care bill would be a mistake. Romney famously oversaw a state health care law in Massachusetts similar to the one pushed by Obama…

“Saying he is ‘in sync’ with the tea party movement is a huge stretch, especially considering his open support for government-run health care in Massachusetts and his wishy-washy views on cap and trade,” Bodnar said. “You can’t support those positions and then call yourself an advocate of limited-government in the same breath.”