Did Dick Armey just throw Doug Hoffman under the bus?

This shocker in today’s Politico, in which conservative activists reject any notion that they lost NY-23.

Armey, the former House GOP majority leader, noted that Democrats had seized on Hoffman’s inability to address local concerns.

“The fact of the matter is, he didn’t pay enough attention to the local concerns, and they were able to tag him as being unaware of the local needs and concerns,” Armey said.

Wasn’t it Armey himself who described local concerns as “parochial.”

This from the Watertown Daily Times.

Coming to Mr. Hoffman’s defense, former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, who accompanied the candidate on a campaign swing, dismissed regional concerns as “parochial” issues that would not determine the outcome of the election.

National conservatives deliberately helped to shape Doug Hoffman into a national symbol, one whose stand on abortion, same-sex marriage and President Obama largely defined him.

For them to complain now that he didn’t focus enough on local stuff strikes me as a stretch.