You voted for it, bethelgrad, so would you be here owning it? Or would you be here whining, "Don't blame me! I voted against [Hillary/Democrat Nighmare du Jour]!"
It's out of your control and it's out of my control. Americans want and need something to vote for. Just because you don't care what you vote for as long as it's "against" Obama, doesn't mean the rest of us are that blind.
If Americans reject Obama, why wouldn't they reject Romney? A lot would just as soon stay home. Voting "against" is for ninnies. It always fails, it always pulls left, but there's always a carrot at the end of the stick held far off to your right, so you don't notice your leftward gait.
People like you got Clinton elected twice because Bush and Dole didn’t match your level of conservatism.
I voted for Dole and Bush in both of those. But loving American patriots got Clinton elected twice on a plurality. Most Americans wanted a different guy. It made Clinton weak. He ended up being impeached. That's a fact.
Conservatism ADVANCED under Clinton, because he was over-run. If Bush or Dole had won, what would have kept the Republican party from veering left?
What this comes down to I think, isn’t so much that these people actually believe the things they say, it’s that they don’t want their feet held to the fire for the things they SAID about the severe conservative last time. They are so invested in the hell they spewed at conservatives during the last election, they would certainly lose face by admitting it.
So like they try bulling their way through it and shouting down/attacking and otherwise attempting to shame people into backing down because as we all say in 12, it worked against a lot of people.
All the GFY comments, the pictures of Yosemitie Sam on a dragon (still can’t figure out the ‘logic’ of that one), the ‘you support Obama” comments etc. are the same things by the same crew we saw last time.
TLDR version: They situational ethicists refusing to admit they were wrong. The proof of Romney’s record and words is/are there for all to read. Denying it is meaningless. He is what he is.