But certainly you would have to agree that all these conservatives would have known all that you do, & yet still backed Romney. You state that he didn't connect w/ the faithful rank & file. Why then, did he garner so much of that vote? Again, McCain didn't win b/c of conservatives! He won on the backs of Dems & Indy's. Had the primaries been exclusively Republican, Romney may have won in a landslide. Your assertions just don't pan out.
As far as Rush is concerned. Do you remember when McCain won the nomination? He was telling his listeners that he might vote for Hillary. Coulter actually did tell her listeners that that's what she was going to do. Now, if they were going to do that against McCain, why not against Romney if he was such a RINO? Using your analogy, McCain was certainly better than Hillary from a purely party perspective. Last man standing would have been Hillary. So why not use the same tact against Romney? If you're going to throw the baby out w/ the bathwater, why not go all the way? Because they didn't see him as the RINO you do. They probably know a lot more about him than you do. Apparently you don't feel the same.
Although I don't follow these guys blindly, I do trust their judgment as I verify. No offense, but I'll take their judgment over yours. I think they know a little more. They didn't just tacitly endorse the man, they did so w/ vigor.
One of the biggest problems we conservatives face right now is eating our own. That had better change quickly IMHO.
I don't know what the pundits knew, they may have known everything about the man and, like it seems several folks even on FR were doing as well, were either willing to overlook it or had some more expedient reason. Given the comprise nature of the Conservative movement and more over the GOP over the past few election cycles, maybe they were looking to win via pretty and attractive again, instead of actually sticking to Conservative values which we will ultimately have to do again, once McCain or Obama wreck things enough to get us back to Carter like conditions. Maybe that will snap few heads around since we have had it so good for so long. Or maybe there were other more base reasons driving their support. Only they know, but it did seem rather odd considering the data I reviewed. I deal in raw fact, and raw info, that is what I saw, about all the Candidates, and given his own words and actions, some where a compromise was made.
Anyways, speaking of the pundits, I think expediency was the flavor of the day. Egads, Hannity, the poor bastard, was fawning over Rudy. You think he was ignorant of Rudy's positions? I don't, and yet Mr. Conservative went out of his way to give him a platform. So the judgment of the “pundits" leaves me a bit flat.
I consider FR a good cross section of the mostly uncomprised Conservative faithful. Why did it take everyone dropping save McCain and Mitt to to get Romney to register in the on line polls. Something to ponder. Remember these polls occurred after your pundit friends were fawning over the man.
As far as eating our own, I think that is about to end, though the mechanism of that end scares me. Things have been good for many years economically and politically. Under those conditions people have time for pet concerns, for comprimse and flirtations with glamor candidates and bright shiny objects. They have time to look past deep driving principles to compromise, to not rock the boat. Those times are quickly drawing to a close. When things take their final downturn, there will be a cry to fix it, like we did in 1980. Maybe then a true Conservative will get a hearing, maybe then people will actually get serious about doing what is right, not what is flavor of the day.