Dude, you know I love ya. But things change. I'd still have supported Gingrich, but the RNC brain trust in DC turned out to be correct, Gingrich is reviled by too many (ignorant) people. It bears similarity to why Hillary Clinton cannot seem to get traction over the years, although in her case, the people who revile her are enlightened.
YET: It's true, that what gets you banned in one period of time, won't get you banned in another. Peoples' -- and the forum's -- views evolve, when confronted by the realities of the situation.
Trolls will always fight against the goals of the site, even if the goals -- by necessity -- must change. I suppose a good way to accomodate this, for those that are not trolls, is to be aware of the position of the site (and the position 'paper' should be updated and publicized as time changes).
And if you disagree with those positions, no worries... just don't troll, and you'll be fine. There's ways of phrasing things so you don't piss people off, especially The Powers That Be! I've done it any number of times, when my position was different than Jim Robinson's.
So Romney is the Republican candidate, and Romney has surprised me more than once, positively. I can assure you he will not be a perfect conservative -- hell, I'm not sure *I* can be -- but I do have the impression, from the indicators I outlined, that he will be better than I initially felt.
I’m not telling anyone not to vote for Romney. (And Romney will win, not matter what). I’m just saying that on the morning of November 7th, the Romney administration will have one objective: to blow conservatives of the face of the earth. He has no bone to pick with the left, but he does with the right. He’ll probably focus first on expanding Obamacare or legalizing samesex marriage nationwide. Too many people on Free Republic are all rainbows and daisies and they think he’s a great thing. And maybe, since a lot of them seem to embrace Romneyism/socialism now, they are right. But to anyone who actually still embraces conservatism. It’s going to be ugly. And there are no allies. There could be more changes in the next 4 years than any period in U.S. history. in 2008 Romney pretended to be conservative. He didn’t this time. He has a lot of animosity towards conservatives, and now he has the werewithal to destroy his enemies. Should be interesting, but not fun, to watch.