In 2008 in South Carolina I voted in the primaries for Romney. At that time I thought him better than McCain. I still do. And I ended up voting for McCain after he and Huck pulled a fast one to get Romney out of the running.
I voted for Gingrich in 12 despite a lot of misgivings about the guy. And I donated to Santorum later despite my conviction that he could not keep running for long.
I simply do not think we had any strong, reliable, steady conservatives in this race.
Having expended so much passion over the years railing against McCain, and then ending up voting for him, I learned a hard lesson and didn't waste a lot of passion being angry over how Romney was forced on us as the RINO answer to Obama. It's like being extorted--"Vote for my loser or get Obama"--and I can't say I like it, but it is what it is.
But being a grownup and being a believer in Original Sin and a disbeliever in the perfectability of mankind, I'm still going forward and will support the GOP candidate...until he gets into office
...and there, Jim, I think is when the power will shift from the smug Kristols and Roves and right back into the tea party.
I wish we hadn't been so generous to Bush. He might not have taken his base so for granted and tried to get Laura her heart's desire...that invitation to Hyannis Port that never came.
We can vote for Romney and not love him. We can vote for him and not owe him a **& thing. We can watch every move he makes and work on stocking more and more conservatives in the House, Senate and eventually all the state houses.
Which is why I'm not wasting energy being angry.
After all, Lindsey Graham is up for reelection in 2014...LOL
I honestly think Romney is better than McCain, and I voted for McCain. Nobody I really wanted, except maybe Cain, would run.
And there are a lot of shills on FR running around trying to tell us to stay home this election to worry about.
I haven't seen much of that. I see most people saying we have to turnout in November and vote straight conservative down ticket!! We must continue the tea party rebellion in Nov and beyond!!
Like you I thought Romney was better than McCain in 2008 and I still do.
So many anti-Romney FReepers keep using the line about “the lesser of two evils is still evil and I won’t vote for evil.”
All men are flawed. Romney, McCain, GWB, all of us.
There is no line between “evil” and “not evil”. There is only more evil and less evil.
I will vote for the Presidential candidate who I think will be best for America. That candidate is the GOP nominee.