Sometimes a loss for the Republican Party is a gain for conservatives. Often, a little taste of liberal Democrats in power is enough to remind the voters what they don’t like about liberal Democrats and to focus the minds of Republicans on the principles that really matter. That’s why the conservative movement has grown fastest during those periods when things seemed darkest, such as during the Carter administration and the first two years of the Clinton White House.

Conservatives are, by nature, insurgents, and it’s hard to maintain an insurgency when your friends, or people you thought were your friends, are in power.

Conservatives need to face reality. If John McCain ever was a conservative, he has not been one for many years. It's been at least a decade and a half ago since he veered off the conservative path. In 2000, he blamed us for his defeat and for the unfair treatment he received in that campaign, and it appears that he decided to teach us a lesson.

Based on reality - not false hopes - each of you needs to make a decision, as a conservative, on whether and how much to support Senator John McCain. You have to decide whether to contribute to his campaign and whether to work your heart out to elect him. You have to decide whether you will work for him wholeheartedly, or just vote for him grudgingly because, although he's bad, he's not as bad as the Democratic candidate