From what I can tell, the reaction seems to be similar to when Ann Coulter endorsed and campaigned for Romney in 2008, but her adoring fans swore she had “endorsed Duncan Hunter” for President on the basis that she said nice things about him. She’s not REALLY for Romney, no sir. NO WAY Ann would help a RINO win the primary. She’s just saying that to tease us and get a reaction.
First off, RINO stands for Republican In Name Only. There is no political term called "rhino".
Second, you're missing the point. The vast majority of conservatives held their noses and voted for Romney when the choice was Romney or Obama.
Furthermore, I'd say a majority of freepers (probably at least 60%) reluctantly switched to Romney late in the 2008 primary season, when the choices were down to Romney, Huckabee, or McCain. They believed Romney was the "most conservative" of those three. (that's why it was amusing when those same freepers bashed Rick Santorum for endorsing Romney under the same circumstances, and refused to publicly say who THEY had voted for, since 80% of them probably did the very thing they were trashing Santorum for doing)
What Ann Coulter did was something entirely different. She didn't reluctantly back Romney towards the end of the primary season, she proudly started pimping from Day 1 of the 2008 primaries and urged conservatives to vote for him when there a dozen other candidates to pick from. Her fan club refused to accept she had sold out and went into spin mode claiming she had "endorsed Duncan Hunter" on the basis of her saying "I think Duncan Hunter is a great conservative" (by that logic, EVERY Republican would have "endorsed Duncan Hunter")
Coulter did the same thing in 2012 as she did in 2008. She kept desperately trying to push Chris Christie to run, and after about the twelfth time of him telling her, "NO", the primary season started and Ann Coulter was pimping for Mitt Romney from Day 1 of the primaries and urging conservatives to vote for him when there were a dozen other conservatives to pick from. It was no surprise she would do this, she was taking the same position she had in 2008 and she said months earlier that if Christie didn't run, she'd back Romney whole-heartedly.
Of this time her fan club acted "shocked" and didn't try to spin it and claim she was endorsing someone else. They had to accept it after Romney won the nomination.
I'm seeing the same denial from Paulbots. Whenever someone NOT named "Rand Paul" says they want to work with Democrats on "comprehensive immigration reform" and a "path to citizenship", they're a La Raza sellout and a lying SOB when they pledge there won't be amnesty until the borders are secured first. But when Rand Paul says it, gosh darn, he's a wonderful tea party leader, he really means he'll secure the border first and he would never sell out.
Like the Coulter thing, they might figure out they've been sold out by Rand Paul by 2014 or 2016 after the "bipartisan" immigration bill makes it out of the Senate. But by that time it will be too late.