Compromising as a last resort is of course a practical thing to do. That IS pragmatism.
Reagan was conservative. Reagan was pragmatic.
Politically Romney is in a great position for VP. We have some conservatives arguing that he is really a hard core liberal—The Rino Anti-Christ. If Romney is nominated for VP, the liberals will say he is a hard core conservative. The two mixed messages will play out in the media that the extremists from both sides hate him and he will be viewed as a moderate.
So he will be viewed as a moderate and then he will get elected and then he can do some really hard core conservative actions. I love it. I love that Romney when he was Governor drew the Libs in Massachusetts insane because he could instantly quote the cost impact of any liberal idea (99% of the he disagreed with) and squashed it in the court of public opinion. They called him spreadsheet Mitt and he would drive the Pelosi’s and the Reid’s insane becuase he would make them all look bad!!!!!