You are right - dead on. They view us - correctly - as more dangerous than the Dems.
From their point of view, they are correct: We *are* more dangerous to them than the Regressives. We want to take away the power they covet. They don’t want smaller government, they just want to be the ones in charge of larger government. To do that they must first beat us, then the Rats.
When it comes to defeating them, we need to mind a lesson Romney taught us, even though it’s not the one he intended. HOW we defeat them matters as much as beating them. Romney got the nomination by tearing down his opponents, whose supporters then refused to vote for Romney in the General. If we beat them by dirty tricks, scandal mongering and badmouthing their supporters (who we’ll need later) we guarantee a loss in the General. Christie needs to be defeated, but this may not be the best way to do it.
We have to defeat the RINOs in a way that will permit their followers to vote for us. We can’t trash the people we need to work with later.