You’re right, they were so busy knocking down Rudy and Romney, that we ended up with McCain who came across as an idiot who was too old to run for president. I know people who would have voted for Romney, but didn’t bother voting for McCain.
Now here we are, with our own Hugo Chavez in the WH.
Do you remember the Giuliani Truth File and the Romney Truth File? They were around long before the Obama Truth File. Of course they were flawed candidates. Presidential candidates almost always are. However, like you said, in attacking each plausible candidate in turn we ended up with McCain, easily the worst of the bunch. He of course had no shot of winning, and look where we are today.
It will be sad when this is inevitably repeated in 2012.