[lentulusgracchus]

Read a book yourself. I was there when Ronald Reagan fought the Establishment in 1976 and lost -- I was in the Louisiana district convention when the Ford people -- the Establishment -- ran their con about sending an "unpledged" or "uncommitted" slate to the national convention. Of course the "unpledged" delegates voted, to a man, for Gerald Ford. So teach your grandmother.

Did powerful conservatives somehow convince all 7 to run so Reagan could grab the nomination? No.

And if the current group that ran this year are so easily manipulated how could any of them merit support?

Precisely. I said it was a mistake for most of them to jump in.

Gingrich and Palin were the only serious alternatives to Romney and the Establishment/GOP-e. The others just screwed things up, and it is highly significant that Ed Rollins showed up in Michele Bachmann's organization, and as soon as he could, went out and trashed Sarah Palin, who hadn't even declared.

Rick Perry said publicly that he wasn't going to run -- but then someone in the Establishment whispered sweet nothings in his ear, and he jumped in. Bad move. Rick was so pwned it even stopped being funny.

[xkaydet65]

And Palin who, boosted candidates and then cut them off at the knees by her favorite du jour actions is the only conservative to have a chance. She punked out. After her Madison speech in 2011 she would have had only Romney to contend with. She’d have sucked the oxygen from any other conservative challengers. Yet she stayed home. As for candidates who could have challenged, your governor who by beliefs, performance, and personally challenging Obama face to face should have run, but he received little support from the Right who held his TV performance in 2009 against him. In the end Romney is all there was and is, and blaming it on some dark cabal whatever the name, is meaningless.