Because of the disappointments at failing to take down the worst RINO Senators up this year, certain elements in the Tea Party just wanted a scalp, any scalp. Roberts was fine for them, but of all those running, he was the least deserving of losing. He was the scapegoat that received all the vitriol that was reserved for the likes of McConnell, Graham, Lamar! & Cochran. Undeserved and completely irrational.
I think it's just that he's old, tired, and weak. We need fresh faces.
If one wanted to entice the young to join the Republican party, seeing "leaders" like Roberts, Alexander, McConnell, Hatch, and McCain won't really leave the young with a feeling of joining a group that understands and represents them.
I recently posted elsewhere about Roberts' involvement in the Democrat "memogate" scandal many years ago. In that scandal, Intelligence vice-chair Jay Rockefeller authored an email detailing how the Democrats were "pulling along" Republicans until such time as they could "pull the trigger" on investigations of the Bush administration.
Instead of being outraged and demanding Democrats to punish their own, Roberts, Hatch, and the rest of the Republicans succumbed to Democrat pressure to fire the person who found the memo (Manuel Miranda) instead of fighting back and putting the heat on Democrats.
If there is anything that I could say about Roberts, it would be that he exhibits the same timidness that all the rest of the Republicans do when they are confronted with Democrat thuggery. The let the Democrats pressure Republicans into not playing the strong cards in their hand, even though they know that Democrats would hide aces up their sleeves if the situations were reversed.
-PJ