I agree on your Romeny points. But the fact is, at the moment, Romney has the GOP establishment wrapped around his finger.
And furthermore, as we saw in 2008, if Romney is not on the ticket he will (via his surrogates) work to undermine any GOP ticket he is not on.
Romney, imho, is a politician that wants it bad, and will do whatever it takes to get it. This may be a case where you keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.
Bush Sr., btw, was not a moderate imho. He was a keynsian (sp?) in his economics (who ran as a a supply-sider in 1988, then promplty went back to being a keynsian), and did nothing about social issues (abortion particularly) one way or another. His one “conservative” strength was defense.
As a package, he was not that different than Richard Nixon (minus the corruption). Both keynsians on economics, both cared little for social issues or domestic policys, both strong on defense.
Bush allowed a lot of federal power grabs (like the Americans with Disalities Act and broad expansion of the Endarngerd Species Act) on his watch. He was clearly in the “govt. is the solution” camp on far too many problems.
The only people Romney has wrapped around his finger are the dopes who think he's a conservative and that somehow his election as President would be good be for America. Romney may want it bad, but he'll never get it. RomneyCare alone will undermine his chances. Btw, if you hadn't noticed he's no favorite of FR or the Tea Party movement.
George Bush never claimed to be a conservative. In 1980 the consensus was that Bush was a wishy washy moderate, with strong NE liberal roots. Bush was a loyal Reaganite but returned to his liberal roots for what was essentially Reagan's 3rd term and proceeded to reject the Reagan agenda. Voters then rejected Bush. Nixon started political life as a big government Republican and as POTUS would govern as a big government Republican. Nixon's one big ace in the hole, his promise to end the Vietnam War --- Peace with Honor --- was destroyed by his complicit involvement in the Watergate coverup.