[samtheman]

And before that, “Tea Party is Herd of Cats; Can’t Agree on Nominee.” The GOPe had more group discipline! For shame. -- TheZMan

The GOPe is entrenched and makes the rules. I said in 2010 the ‘taking our party back’ thing would not work. It is their party. Always has been. --- Psalm 144

I forget the exact date of Rick Santorum's withdraw from the race (April 10?) but I do remember that on that date the total vote count was like this:

Approximately 6 million votes for conservative candidates.

Approximately 5 million votes for Romney.

You can "blame" the GOPe for uniting their votes behind a single candidate (smart!) if you want... I agree with TheZMan, the problem is that Conservatives didn't unite (stupid!).

And part of the blame goes to Sarah Palin, in my opinion. She didn't come out strong and early for a personal pick. I think if she had done that she would have at least pointed the way to unity. But then again, maybe not. I can hear the sniping here on FR from many had she had done that.

And speaking of FR. There's plenty of shame to go around right here. Go back and read the posts from September to December, 2011. What horrible things were said about good conservatives right here on this site.

For shame.

[cripplecreek]

I think the party uses manipulators here at FR too.

They don’t post for years and suddenly show up and spend a couple of months steady stream posting attacks on other candidates only to disappear after their final post calling to unite.

[don-o]

And part of the blame goes to Sarah Palin, in my opinion.

There is no doubt about that. Unfortunately too many conservatives mistook hero (heroine) worship for a viable strategy to victory. I think she understood that she could not win the general - even if she had gotten the nomination - but I cannot understand what why she squandered the opportunity to boost any of the "not Romney's"

[norwaypinesavage]

"What horrible things were said about good conservatives right here on this site."

"Horrible things were continue to be said about good conservatives right here on this site." There, fixed it for you.

[rogue yam]

Go back and read the posts from September to December, 2011.

This is the key.

Those on this forum who claim that Romney was chosen by the "GOPe" and forced in as nominee ignore the actual field Romney defeated.

Each of the other GOP candidates was deeply flawed. We didn't settle on a single conservative non-Romney candidate to rally around because each of the choices was fundamentally flawed and weak.