Many of my friends and family are Republicans (doesn't that sound alarmingly like "I have a black/gay/Mexican/athiest friend" LOL?). I say this to point out that I am aware that many Republicans have views that are largely moderate. They prefer States policy over National policy, they prefer smaller (which does not mean nonexistent) government, they lean toward more pro-gun, law-and-order, sometimes hawkish positions. But they are reasonable people who understand that civilization has a cost and we must all work together to pay that cost.
I'm pretty sure that Mitt Romney is so cynical that he doesn't believe those Republicans exist. Moreover, he has apparently decided that the way to win the office he so covets is to completely pander himself (no surprise) to the furthest right, anti-everything, failed-to-ever-take-a-civics-class faction of the Republican party. And in doing this, he rains further damage on the Republican Party.
This dismays me.
I don't believe a one-party government is a healthy thing (honestly, I have deep reservations about having a mere two). We need a healthy Republican Party to create balance and dialog with we folks who are the more-dovish, regulatory-friendly, big-government-safety-net sort of people. But dialog can't happen between the extremes of a position - it takes not just cooler heads, but more open heads, to nurture a conversation to a productive conclusion.
Check out Kathleen Parker's article today in The Daily Beast for an excellent overview of everything wrong with the current Republican Party platform. And let's all - Democrat and Republican alike - start looking for those cooler and more open heads.