CNN's Jack Cafferty asks why Republicans aren't thrilled with Mitt Romney during his "Cafferty File" segment and the the answers aren't pretty to say the least.

What Cafferty and Beinart both ignore when discussing the GOP base and what candidate they would ever settle for, is the fact that they're not "conservatives" as Blue Texan so rightfully pointed out, they're radical. I think that bears repeating any time someone mentions the Republican base and tries to pretend there's anything "conservative" about this bunch. The party has been taken over by the John Birch Society, who now call themselves the "tea party", or as Amato likes to call them, TeaBirchers. And sadly for poor old Mitt, they can't stand him and they're not going away quietly.

CAFFERTY: It seems Mitt Romney is not selling what conservatives want to buy. Apparently, his focus on jobs and the economy isn't connecting with the right wing of his party.

Peter Beinart writes in "The Daily Beast" the Republican base is more fired up about how to keep government from destroying our liberty than had you how to use government to grow the economy.

Yes, conservatives see shrinking government and boosting the economy as related, but their focus is on greater freedom. It helps explain the success of many of the previous GOP candidates who caught fire this time around, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, and currently, Rick Santorum. All of them described the 2012 election on some level, as a struggle between government tyranny and individual freedoms.

Chances are, in November, more Americans want to hear how the next president can fix the economy, create jobs -- and that would play into Romney's strength. But for now, he's got to figure out how to make conservatives like him.

And here's a hint: his speech over the weekend is not the answer. In that speech he described himself as a, quote, "severely conservative Republican governor." That is just awful. Severely conservative? It sounds like a disease. It once again highlighted he's got problems on the right.

But Romney did get some good news over the weekend after the Santorum sweep last Tuesday, Romney narrowly defeated Ron Paul to win the Maine caucuses and he won the straw poll vote at CPAC as well.

And there's this -- should Romney become the nominee eventually, conservatives could fall into line faster if it means defeating President Obama in the fall.

So here's the question: Why can't Mitt Romney catch fire with conservatives?

Go to CNN.com/CaffertyFile and post a comment on my blog, or go to our post on THE SITUATION ROOM's Facebook page -- Jess. [...]

CAFFERTY: The question this hour is why can't Mitt Romney catch fire with conservatives?

Jenny in New York writes, "Romney can't catch fire with conservatives because he's severely a bad liar. He's trying way to hard to look like something he's not and people can smell the desperation oozing out of him."

Dave in Orlando, "Very simple. They aren't certain that he intends to completely destroy the middle class and eliminate all taxes for the wealthy by the end of his first day in office."

Drew writes, "With his stances on the left, right and center, Romney has reduced himself to a parody of the three stooges, flip, flop and flip-flop Romney. The only conservatives that support him are the ones that hope his severely conservative persona will bang the other two's heads together."

Carroll writes, "Severe typically describes a disease. That's problem. Mitt secretly thinks conservatism is akin to chicken pox." George in North Carolina writes, "Even the dim-witted self-absorbed conservatives can spot an over-reaching rich brat who thinks he can buy and pate nice his way into getting votes."

Larry writes, "Catch fire, he can't even catch a cold. Romney's been running so long he has no clue where he's running too. Brokered convention, just watch." Fred in Mississippi, "Jack, the reason Romney can't catch fire with conservatives is because he's not a conservative. He's a moderate or as Newt Gingrich has called him, a liberal."

If you want to read more on this, go to my blog, cnn.com/caffertyfile or through our post on THE SITUATION ROOM's Facebook page. Pretty funny. YELLIN: Pretty funny and a tough -- you know, severe wasn't even scripted. He adlibed that.