General Discussion

The Republican party has been in serious trouble for a decade now, it was just somewhat masked by the national PTSD of 9/11. When W left office his approval rating was in the low 20's and the 2008 election results reflected that. The GOP base thought the mid-term results were an endorsement of Bush-era policies rather than the reactionary protest of the entire political landscape it was. They refused to rebrand or reform, what we're seeing now is the result of the republican party failing to adapt.

The really big story this cycle isn't Clinton's speech or Romney's gaffes, it's the complete collapse of republican affiliation since the RNC. There are a lot of people out there who naturally fall into the republican sphere, people who want fiscal responsibility, individual liberty, small, focused government and so on. There is a much, much smaller population of people who're willing to get on board with the current GOPs platform in exchange for pure lip-service to those ideals. They've lost credibility with too many people. Their media has likewise lost credibility, FOX/talk radio is now only playing to the birther types and they're not nearly numerous enough to win elections.

Romney collapsed because he ceased to be a generic republican nominee who could embody whatever ideals people happened to hold and became Mitt Romney, and the Republican party likewise went from being a empty vessel that could appeal to people who liked Ike, Goldwater or Ron Paul and became the party that was on display at the RNC.

It isn't that Romney is a bad candidate, he's actually a very good representative of today's GOP, and THAT is the real problem. Things are going to get even nastier going forward because they're starting to realise the party is dying.