If Romney loses, conservatives will have to find a scapegoat that allows them to continue believing their platform was sound, and a loss was the due to some other reason that doesn’t threaten their right wing dogma.
Two that come to mind:
Voter fraud or some other kind of election impropriety, even in the absence of any evidence.
Romney was not conservative enough, as if a more conservative candidate would have gotten more votes from Democrats or independents.
Self-reflection on how their party has become too radical and emboldened to the plutocratic class. How their social policies are archaic and their fiscal policies are too inflexible and…haaa, I’m just kidding, they’ll blame Romney for running and incompetent campaign.
In addition to this, they’ll put forth the claim that had the Romney campaign not so badly bungled the election, Romney would have won in a landslide. They’ll use the fact that the election was so close to spin a narrative that Americans are yearning for traditional conservative values, and they’ll push harder than ever against Obama and the Democrats in the Senate. There’s a very real possibility that this claim will find purchase among the electorate, and Republicans gain enough seats in the Senate during Obama’s second-term to have a majority. Obama might get to nominate some justices, keep at bay any attempts to repeal Obamacare, and use executive power to end the war in Afghanistan and avoid any catastrophic international conflicts, but he won’t be able to push any new legislation through congress.
I can’t wait to see what happens if Romney wins the popular vote but loses the electoral college. I’m seriously considering watching the election returns on Fox just for that reason.
They might privately blame him for not being Christian enough.
Yes, I know Mormons consider themselves Christians, but there are plenty of Christians who don’t think Mormons are Christian. Such as Evangelical Christians, who are a large part of the GOP base.
So, if his loss is due to to a lower-than-expected turnout among EVs, then I guess the GOP leadership could blame the loss on nominating a Mormon.
Carl Rove. I bet he’s scrambling right now and working out how to justify that a billion dollars wasn’t enough to put a ‘monkey with enough digits to sign bills’ in as POTUS (just in case Romney doesn’t win).
IF Romney fails, I think it will be a setup for someone like Huckabee next time around.
They will blame the media. They will blame the polls being skewed. They will blame Romney for not being a True Conservative. They will blame Obama for lying constantly and tricking the poor American people into voting for him.
They will probably run Santorum or another right-wing crazy person in 2016 who will win the primary to make up for it.