There was a time in my teens when I idealized the idea of having a conservative world where people would live by our conservative values and standards. However, reality is a different animal altogether. Let me give you a more specific example:
Duncan Hunter is a strong conservative man. I think he is an honest man. Yet when he ran in the GOP primaries he couldn't even get his state to vote for him. He won ONLY 1% of the vote. So even if the whole FR community voted for him a few times, it wouldn't change the fact that he won't win a national election - a hard reality, but reality nonetheless.
Being a native New Yorker (though from the more conservative upstate region - which by the way isn't as conservative as it used to be), I don't expect a true conservative to win statewide elections in NY, nor do I expect a conservative would win in liberal CA. But if we can get someone who could take these states closer to the right, little by little, that would be an improvement.
Politics is about winning, and it is about getting someone who can win elections. It's not about dreaming wonderful dreams and losing in the end. If we are supposed to advance our conservative agenda, we need to find someone who can win. Oh yes, if he or she is a conservative and can win elections in CA and NY, more power to him/her. But if we can't get such a strong conservative, then a not-so-strong conservative will suffice - if we can win and as I wrote above, promote our conservative agenda, even if it takes time.
The point is to win elections. To enact our agenda we need to start winning elections. If a true conservative can't win in a certain state, then get the next most conservative candidate who can win. That's politics.
There’s validity to your arguments, but I do also take into account the practical viability of a given candidate as well. Hunter was well regarded around here, but as I also told folks, he was not a first-tier candidate (he’s Cabinet Secretary material). But saying that, there also reaches a point where a candidate from our side is so liberal that they will inflict more damage to the GOP and Conservatism if they win than if they were to lose. It’s why on some rare occasions, I’d simply prefer the outright Dem to win (not because I agree with their policies, but because I know they will be so horrible as to scare the public straight). If McCain had won the Presidency, we’d be bracing for further losses in the off-year elections in NJ & VA and probably even further declines in Congress next year as the party in power. It’s like the argument that it took Carter to get us Reagan. If Ford had won in ‘76, it was assured a Dem would’ve won in ‘80 and the GOP would’ve never retaken the Senate back (same had Bush, Sr. won reelection in ‘92 - no GOP Congress in ‘94).