Look, politics has always been the art of the possible. I agree with standing on principles but to make a political difference you also need to win elections. That doesn't automatically mean sacrificing principles, it means presenting your candidates and positions in a manner that appeals to as many people as possible, within your base support and beyond it.
Hand in hand with that goes defeating your enemies. To achieve that means sometimes having to deal with a less-than-optimum choice of candidates. McCain certainly wasn't the best choice IMO but he was a better choice than Obomah. Likewise, in my state, DeWine wasn't the optimum choice on all counts but he was a better pick, on balance, than Sherrod Brown. We often have to play the best hand we're dealt. We can and should make whatever efforts we can to get those closest-to-ideal candidates, but it doesn't always work out that way.
The problem is you talk out of both sides of your mouth. With me, you get what you get, straight. The sheeple like that, especially in a conservative. Somebody like that wins every time....