Obama wins.
No sitting dem has been beaten by a gop moderate, and Mitt is as moderate as milk toast.
Only man to ever beat a sitting dem?
Reagan.
An 80's conservative.
So all you people out there telling us we need to back Mitt so we can unite under his waffle.
Grats, you are guaranteeing that Obama wins.
And nominating Santorum / Bachmann / Gingrich / Cain / Trump / whomever else was the Tea Party darling would also "guarantee" an Obama win.
The fact that Reagan did it once - count 'em, one time - does not mean that it is continuously repeatable. It's a fantasy of blinkered ideologues.
Actually, let's look at that.
Nixon ran as a conservative speaking for the "Silent Majority" who were disgusted by Hippies. He won- Twice.
Reagan ran as a conservative speaking for traditional values. He won twice. By landslides.
Bush-41 ran as a conservative and won. Then he broke all his promises and raised taxes and expanded government, and lost.
Bush-43 ran as a conservative. Well we can debate whether he won the first time, but he won the second time.
Now, if you run as just the kind of "conservative" you are, the one who thinks the biggest problem in America is that the rich don't get to **** over the working man enough while committing economic treason, and don't make me talk about social conservative stuff, those bible thumpers are all a bunch of weirdos. Well, lets see what you get.
Jerry Ford Lost.
Bob Dole Lost
John McCain Lost
Mitt Romney will Lose.
Convenient historical revisionism. Conservative - and those who claim to be conservatives like you, uby - will always say that the nominee lost because they weren't conservative enough. Always.
Let's look again.
Goldwater 64 - the most conservative of all the candidates in generations then and since, was crushed.
Nixon 68 - in a time of strife because of an unpopular war so great the sitting President chose not to run, Nixon promised to end the war and won. Also, civil strife in the South had damaged the Democrats. His election was as much about the Democrats as the himself.
Nixon 72 - Nixon hardly governed as a conservative. The Democrats nominated the most liberal of all the candidates then and since.
Ford 76 - Ford pardoned Nixon, the public was disgusted by Watergate, inflation was rising and there was an oil embargo and gas lines.
Reagan 80, 84 - Ran as a conservative and won. Proceeded to raise taxes 11 times and gave us the biggest deficits in our history up until that time. Times were good but he governed less from the right than conservatives will admit. A better economy lead to his election.
Bush 88 - Ran on a "kinder, gentler America." Won. Raised taxes. Just like Reagan did, only 10 fewer times than Reagan.
Bush 92 - Ran as a conservative. "Read my lips, no new taxes." Lost. Stagnant economy lead to his defeat. "It's the economy, stupid."
Dole 96 - Clinton benefited from the same dynamic as Reagan did in 84, an expanding and improving economy. Co-opted much of Gingrich's platform.
Bush 00 - "A compassionate conservative." Promised to cut taxes but also promised to improve education, focusing on a traditional soft Democrat issue. Plus, Gore was an awful candidate.
Bush 04 - Oversaw one of the biggest expansions of government since WWII. Cut taxes but increased nondefense, nondiscretionary spending as fast as anyone since LBJ. Oversaw the increase of government intrusion in Americans' lives through security surveillance. Invaded a country. Medicare Part D. Torture. If conservative means "big government," then Bush sure was a conservative in his first four year term.
McCain 08 - Worst economy since the Depression. Enough said. Weariness of war was also a big part.
Conservatives will always attribute their victories to "being conservative" and their losses to "not being conservative enough." This is the mechanism of all partisans and ideologues. It's unobjective.
Especially when it comes from a hater.