Ryan Lizza, writing on the New Yorker’s “News Desk” blog, listed “Five People Conservatives Should Blame If Mitt Romney Wins.” All five are very insightful, but the first one was the best: George Bush. It really makes a lot of sense.

“More than anyone else, Bush is responsible for decimating the ranks of qualified Republicans who could take on Obama. A successful Presidency can produce a new crop of future Presidential candidates for the party that controls the White House. The vice president and cabinet officials, as well as governors and senators elected over the course of the administration, are historically major sources for a party’s next round of candidates. The Bush years had the opposite effect. It was unthinkable that his vice president would run for higher office and much of his cabinet left Washington tainted by the President’s unpopularity. Moreover, Bush helped sink his party in the 2006 and 2008 elections, thus depleting the ranks of potential Republican candidates for 2012.”

Lizza points out people were not tainted by the Bush presidency, but who declined to run for other reasons: Mitch Daniels, Mike Huckabee, Chris Christie, Sarah Palin, Rudy Giuliani, and others. So there were some strong candidates. But they had their own reasons staying out.

The other persons Lizza mentions:

• Michele Bachman (for killing Tim Pawlenty’s candidacy).
• Cheri Daniels (for keeping her husband, Mitch Daniels, out of the race).
• Barack Obama (for recruiting Jon Huntsman to work for him as ambassador to China, and thereby staining a very strong candidate).
• Justice Anthony Kennedy (for being the swing vote that legalized SuperPacs, which gave power to the monied establishment candidates–like Romney–and crippled grassroots candidates who rely on small contributions).