Pat is wrong, because he seems to expect "Republican" and "Conservative" to be synonymous, which they are not, and his complaints are really about "Republican" actions which many conservative Republicans agree are not very "conservative". This is evident with his claim that "conservatism is at war with itself over foreign policy, over deficit hawks versus supply-siders."
While some minor, not oft-respected conservatives, like Buchanan, have had differences with the Bush administration over foreign policy, the vast majority of mainstream intra-party differences, on the right, have been between the minority of liberal and moderate Republicans versus conservative Republicans; both of whom usually ignore Pat.
Pat ignores some of the historical "conservative" experience he was part of - the Reagan era; where there was no inner conservative conflict between deficit hawks and supply-siders. The deficits were then, as now, seen as temporary and will be offset by continually growing revenue from lower taxes.
His confusion between 'conservative' and Republican is also brought out by his acceptance of the writers view that 'conservative ascendancy in the Republican party' assumes a "conservative" holds every important office that Republicans hold, such as the presidency, when in fact Nixon was not always so "conservative" and neither was G.H.W. Bush. The differences were not within "conservatives" but within the Republican party.
And on and on, Pat's lament is not really about any war within "conservatism". He seems to think that "conservatism" as a movement, should no longer have to vie for a voice with the Republican party; that if conservatives were really winning there would be no moderate or liberal Republicans.
I for one am glad that conservatives and Republicans are not synonymous; that conservatives are not so self-satisfied with the Republican party that it does not matter if one is a Tom Delay and one is a Voinovich. When that happens, then one could say the energy, the uniqueness, the life has gone out of the conservative movement. That has not happened. The conservative movement is not the Republican Party and conservatives continue to fight for conservative positions within that party - they just don't always win every vote.
I think most liberal/socialist, big government, profiteering, political opportunists feel that way.