I thought both McCain and Romney were reasonable candidates. Ditto Bob Dole.
Reasonable for Republicans, maybe ...
Social moderates -- which is part of why they lost -- not able to rev up the nutty GOP base enough. Though McCain tried with Palin.
Romney was Mr. Ultra-Capitalist. Making tens of millions by putting folks out of work. He couldn't fake the rich man populism the way Trump could/did.
McCain was a warmonger, had shaky judgement, and promoted the ascendancy of the kooky far right with the Palin pick.
In many ways Palin with her lack of knowledge, loyal base, combat with the media, etc. was a forerunner of Trump.