I’d agree, that’s trolling beyond the pale, and you never know who is actually doing this (on the internet, nobody knows you’re a dog). For many others it’s the choice of the more tolerable of two stenches. With enough pressure (and the USA in general is going to loudly demand “severely conservative” things of him that Massachusetts only did feebly if at all), Mitt could be pliable — but to not recognize Mitt’s default shape is, agreed, self delusion.
This is the key to evaluating a hypothetical Romney Presidency.
The Mitt Haters claim to be certain that Romney is a genuine leftist only pretending to be more conservative. They say that Romney's "default shape" (as you put it) is collectivistic.
I disagree.
You call this "self delusion", I call it "my opinion".