Why am I not surprised that conservatives are the ones that get blamed.
Worth repeating:
There are many reasons for this: tough primary fights, the “establishment vs. Tea Party” meme, stubbornness, arrogance, ignorance, ego. You name it, a segment of the center-right coalition suffers from it.
Missing the real point - the Left will invariably rally round whoever they have on the ticket. We eschew the big picture due to our own interests/beliefs and will refuse to attend the rally even if it means another term for Obama - and likely a first term for Hillary.