There are millions of people all across this country who have registered and voted GOP their whole lives and think of themselves as conservatives, but who wouldn't last three days on FR without riding the lightning.
These are the Romney supporters. They like a candidate who is "conservative" in personality and image, not necessarily so much in ideology.
They are not that way because of secret mind control waves from Karl Rove. They are that way because it's what they really believe.
Those of you who think that Freepers or the Tea Party are the overwhelming majority of GOP voters and so should have an easy win in any primary contest need to wake up and smell the damn coffee. It ain't so. Not yet anyway, and maybe not for years.
As I have said again and again, it's easy to zot moderates and RINO's from FR. It is impossible to zot them from the GOP voting rolls. Only persuasion will work.