Conservative process is precisely what produces conservative outcomes. Conservatism is defined by the means employed, not the ends produced. Rationalization is neither a process of conservatism, nor a logical by-product of a conservative outcome. It is the fuel, the fire, and the smoke of liberalism. Therefore, by inductive reasoning, one can only come to the conclusion that Bush is a progressive, big-government, multi-culturalist liberal.
(Walks like a duck, talks like a duck, and leaves little piles of duck-excrement in his wake.)
"Get a candidate that you think will be more to your liking and support him in the primaries."
Conservative candidates are being actively discouraged by the Beltway think tanks, MSM, and special-interest 'power-players' that you decry in your post. The fact that they are being gleefully aided-and-abetted by the RNC does not bode well for the Republican party in either the short or long terms.
If a conservative candidate is popular and electable, I doubt that the Beltway will have much say. It's up to the candidate to gain the grass-roots support and get himself nominated. Blaming the Beltway is a cop out.
And that's what's so incredibly frustrating in all of this. In the CPAC Straw Poll before this most recent one in Memphis, Tancredo had taken 5th place and beat out Mitt Romney. He wasn't invited to the convention in Memphis. Does that surprise anyone?
Not that I even think that Tancredo would be the man for the job, but he'd sure as heck fire up debate, and the GOP leadership doesn't want that. Despite the fact that it would catch fire with voters across the country, they're afraid and want the big business bucks.
Real conservatives like Mike Pence get thrown under the bus while the dandy RINOs ride off into the sunset.
This border issue is killing me. Until we get a real conservative in the White House, nothing is going to happen. Ever. There has to be leadership from above that gets the wheels rolling. Or we get hit with a terrorist attack, and then maybe something happens, simply because the backlash against doing nothing would be too much wasted political capital.