I have this argument with a #NeverTrump family member all the time. He is convinced that the GOP would be sailing to victory right now if they had nominated ANY of the other candidates who did not have Trump’s negatives.
I point out that they’d be working equally as hard to destroy Bush or Cruz or Rubio, and they wouldn’t be hitting back effectively.
Something else to consider here is that most people right here on FreeRepublic wouldn't be spending a lot of time defending those guys (with the exception of Cruz, perhaps), either. No matter how much we might support them for political reasons, the pathetic truth is that most of those GOP candidates were duller than drying paint.