That's a fascinating proposition. Or consider how you would perceive Romney if all along, he was indeed a Democrat and the Republican party was still ... well, the kind of party Romney would consider opposition. *sigh*
If he was a Democrat, we'd fear him and perceive how dangerous he is in terms of that faux "businessman's efficiency" regarding making government more "streamlined," better at suppressing and controlling and managing you and your employer and your food sources and certainly your relationships with doctors ...
And that's really the nut of it. How big is this tent? As far as I'm concerned, if a guy who upholds the same ideas and has the same track record as Romney in philosophy of how government works, the concepts of state-run medicine, gays in the military, abortion, gun control, environmentalism, and forced accommodation of same-sex romance including "legal marriage" or else face discrimination punishment from the government ....
.... If that kind of guy belongs in this tent, then this is the wrong tent. Then the Republican Party is the wrong party. Facts is facts.
We need another party because guys like Romney are in the Republican party and there's not a damned thing we can do about it.
I've been moving toward that position as well but haven't quite come to that point yet. A second Romney nomination will probably push me out of the party, realizing as Ronald Reagan did earlier with the Democrat Party that I didn't leave the party but that the party has left me. Particularly, if a Palin or Cruz would agree to run on a third-party ticket - they could count on my support.