I believe that one of the reasons so many Republicans in Congress are such candy-asses is because it is constantly reinforced that they have nothing to lose by being moderate, because moderate is "safe" in that it wins nominations and often elections.
Romney kicked to the curb, I believe, is the ONLY way to make being "moderate" candy-ass too dangerous for Republicans. Kicking Romney to the curb, voting more Republicans to Congress (which I think will happen in a big way in 2012) and then pushing them to flex their muscles in stopping Obama, has a better chance of succeeding in turning things right, than electing Romney in a landslide and expecting them to successfully oppose the most powerful member of their own party who would carry a "progressive" majority between himself, moderates, and Democrats.