Jedi, I respect your head a lot, but I stop breathing for a moment when I hear FReepers say, “ we can hold Myth’s feet to the fire once we get him elected. “ How, pray tell, do we get power to do that when we have just given him all of it, over us, along with our vote?
We certainly can't guarantee we'll win every battle. But even with Reagan, we didn't win every battle, not on Sandra Day O'Connor or the 1986 amnesty. But we do know that public opposition can sink the plans of a president, just as liberal opposition sunk Bush's Social Security reform. So we can work through our representatives to make sure that they don't support legislation that's too liberal. Plus Romney will have to worry about reeelection and funding that campaign. There could even be the threat of a primary challenge.
The other point is that to make gains for our movement, we need to go far beyond just electing specific individuals to office. The Tea Party really needs to grow into a movement that will engage the public and build support for specific ideas, plans, legislation, constitutional amendments, etc. Let's say, for school voucher programs or the federal marriage amendment. Some of the big changes that we need done will never happen based solely on the whim of a candidate or a party. We need to do more things to move the bar of public opinion to our side on specific issues so that candidates will have no choice but to do what we want or get voted out. I do know that Obama in his second term would not let any such threats stand in his way.
I spoke out about the long-term danger of damaging the Republican brand even if Romney wins during the primary. There are many risks that come with a Romney presidency. I just can't help but look over to the greater of two evils, at someone who will enshrine Obamacare in the American way of life and someone who through backdoor amnesty will try to create a permanent majority voting bloc for his party. I'd rather take my chances with Romney.
Nevertheless it's valuable to have people in the conservative grass roots opposing Romney to remind him of the pressure that comes from that side. It's a big tent and from Romney's perspective those are the "bad cops" that remind him how bad it could get if he does anything to shift more conservatives away from him.