When the evil has become so great that it poisons everything it comes in contact with, anything that is less than that evil is acceptable.
It's sort of like being offered a cyanide cocktail or foul tasting cough syrup. You might not like the taste of one, but the other will kill you. None of the above isn't an option. We will have one or the other. Romney for all his warts and faults is better than obama. Romney doesn't hate us.
Suppose Romney is nothing more than a robber baron. Suppose his only goal is to further enrich himself at the expense of everyone else. Then the choice is this one:
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.
C. S. Lewis
No matter how you look at it, unless you believe in absolute tyranny, Romney is your only choice.
I would think that sensible conservatives, if there is such an animal, if they are seriously displeased with having to settle for Romney, would want him to lose.
Look - if he wins, you conservatives will be out in the cold for 8 more years no matter how it goes.
Romney will be in for 4, and then run again. So you're stuck with 8 years of Romney, or 4 years of Romney and then 4 years, at least, with a Democrat.
At least if Romney loses, you'd have another shot 4 years from now at getting a more genuine conservative nominated.
8 years is a long time out in the cold.