Looks you're having trouble with your principles, like most conservatives who find their principles are not well represented by the the current crop of GOP front-runners.
Most of the posts here lament that Rudy is the front-runner and some even go so far to say that they'll abstain from voting if he's the GOP nominee. That will wreck the GOP and certainly will lead to a loss in 2008.
I would argue that conservatives, no matter how principled, have not accomplished much since the Goldwater era, except to stay true to their principles. We have had one conservative President elected. If our principles are so damn good, then why have we only one President to show for our efforts---and little else in the way of accomplishments?
The reason, I think, is that conservatives are too wrapped up in our principles that we have ignored the other requirements for a successful (one that accomplishes its goals) political movement. We also have to win elections at a rate that exceeds the competition. If we do not, then we lose our position on the stage of effective political discourse. To do that we need strategic flexibility and the realization that, in this country, we are not in the majority and, therefore we must allow for some accommodation of those who are not fully, 100% committed to pure social conservative principles. We also need to campaign actively for candidates, as opposed to merely ranting and condemning our opponents.
Yes, if the Repub Party Prez candidate is a RINO like Rudy G, then enough Repubs will be turned off by his anti-gun, pro-gay, pro-abortion, pro-illegal immigration, etc stands as to make him unappetizing to the Repub base.
The Repub Party has the responsibility of fielding candidates that do not look like they should be running on the Dem ticket.
Or it can self-destruct ala England's Tory Party which used to be conservative but now is pushing carbon taxes and other policies guaranteed to insure it never wins another election.