You can't lose credibility in politics faster than suggesting its best we lose power short term to maybe gain power long term.
You just don't understand the strategy. You need to purge all the wishy-washy moderate types from the party, so that there remains a smaller, purified core which lacks the votes to win elections except by, ummm, reaching out to the middle, or something. :o)
Yeah, but Conservatives would have to be IN POWER to lose power. We aren't in power. The Republicans are. Some of them are Conservative; others aren't. Shedding the excess RINO fat would help us.