But it always happens.

This year, after savaging Mitt Romney for months, some conservative Republicans are going to rally around him for reasons every bit as flimsy as a woman on CNN unfairly criticizing his wife. The GOP establishment knows it. That's why the Romney supporters among them didn't worry that by supporting the former Massachusetts governor, rather than a more conservative rival, they'd lose the base. There's always some nonsense controversy that can get the base on board. Why cater to them in candidate selection? They're often the easiest voters to rally behind the GOP.

Meanwhile, President Obama will have no problem rallying progressives, despite his atrocious record of broken promises on civil liberties and executive power, because, well, "the war on women!" Candidates hoping to win over progressives won't feel the need to keep promises on those issues in the future either. Why would they? There's always some way to remind them about their hatred of Republicans and all the very scary things that they'll do if they're given power.

It's often the case that partisans gloat when their ideological antagonists commit a gaffe on a meaningless issue. Mitt Romney says he likes firing people! Barack Obama says he'll have more flexibility after the next election! But emphasizing these tertiary gaffes is also an acknowledgement that you regard your own base as irrational enough that their vote or political donations are affected by issues of relatively miniscule importance. And that's basically true! It's no wonder that ideologues on the left and right are so routinely betrayed in the end. They're easily distracted from core issues, deeply invested in symbolic fights, and always fall in line.

