It was a lousy year for Republicans. If there really was any good conservative candidate out there, chances are he or she knew how bad the odds were and didn't run. But really, was there anybody who didn't run who could have run and won?
2008 - Where was the candidate who was more conservative than McCain who could have won? Huckabee? Romney? Giuliani? Keyes? Duncan Hunter? Tom Tancredo? Ron Paul? Sam Brownback? George Allen? Allen Keyes? Jim Gilmore? Maybe Fred Thompson? Good luck with him.
McCain was a lousy candidate. Like Dole he didn't have the drive to win, but where was the candidate with the skill and drive and popularity and effectiveness to beat McCain? And after the stock market slumped could any Republican really have won?
My point is, somebody gets nominated, rather than nobody. Some real, existing candidate who's in the race, gets the nod rather than some imaginary or hypothetical candidate who ought to exist and run but doesn't. And in a bad year the chosen, real, existing candidate, who's far from ideal, loses.
Sometimes he loses because of his own mistakes or weakness, but the hypothetical candidate, who doesn't exist and doesn't run doesn't win either, and the candidate who's more conservative than the others but doesn't have the appeal or the ability to win primaries also doesn't win the nomination or the general election.
So I'd say, yes, nominate the most conservative candidate we can. Nominate Gingrich or Santorum or somebody else, but if and when that candidate loses, it would really clear the air around here and air out some bad arguments.
It’s people like you who have brought us these s***** candidates.
The GOP had annointed both Dole and McCain well in advance because these guys were the old guard, it was “their turn,” and that was that. Probably any one of the others, had they had that level of support, could have run and possibly even succeeded. You fail to mention that neither one of the GOP’s golden boys was elected.
Somebody gets nominated, but for once, couldn’t it be somebody who wasn’t (a) destined for failure (because the GOP really doesn’t think Romney can win, but heck, he can proabably pay for his own campaign) or (b) who would really offer a vision for which Americans could cast an honorable vote?