Perhaps so, but evidently not enough to get a conservative nominated. As you note, we had dogs in the hunt this year, just like in '08. They didn't get the votes, for whatever reason. They lost. Sounds like the people asking for a conservative have to do a better job of convincing more people to support a conservative candidate. Whoever gets a plurality of votes in the primaries gets the nomination. Last I heard, that's how the system works.
It doesn't do much good to come in here election after election and whine about how lousy our candidate is, how "the establishment" (whoever that is) forced some loser on us, that we were cheated, blah blah blah. We should be mature enough to understand how things are. "The establishment" will listen to one thing: who gets the most votes in the primaries. That means your candidate needs money and voter enthusiasm, a strong reason for people to take time to get out and vote for that person. If they don't have that, they'll lose.
I agree with you, but I do believe that Free Republic is a place to safely bitch and complain as it most likely will not convince others to change their vote. The majority here, myself included, will vote for Romney. It is just a nice place to complain as I would not dare do so in public for fear that some undecided would hear me and vote for Obama.