I see that you've been here since 1999, fardels. I've only been here since 2002. Funny ... in all those 12 years I have never once come across a purist on FR. Not a single, solitary one!
I have, however, come across hundreds of FReepers who angrily accuse others of being purists.
In reality, any FReeper who accuses another of being a purist is blatantly insulting that individual because only an idiot thinks there's such a thing as a perfect candidate, therefore accusing someone of being a "purist" is exactly akin to calling that someone an idiot.
So why don't you list all the idiots ... er, excuse me, "purists" you mean to insult, fardels? I haven't seen a single one -- point one out to me, please?
*sigh* No wonder they call it the "stupid party."
There are lots of purists with regard to specific issues. Some people will not vote for a candidate if that candidate differs with them on a single issue that is important to them. There are those who will not support a candidate if their opinions on abortion, guns, illegal immigration differ.
Some examples:
A candidate opposes abortion except in the case of rape and incest. There are those who will not support him. Personally I believe abortion is always murder but I will vote for a candidate with the above opinion if in general he appears to be a good candidate.
A candidate believes there should be laws preventing mentally disturbed people from owning guns. There are those that believe that this is a ruse that will be used to turn all gun owners into felons and will oppose such a candidate. I have concerns about such laws, but believe they can be written in such a way to keep guns out of the hands of crazy people without branding all gun owners as gun nuts. I will vote for such a candidate.
A candidate believes in some form of immigration reform. There are those who will not vote for that person. I personally believe that it is possible to start deporting all illegal aliens currently living in the country and to protect the borders sufficiently to keep the amount of illegal immigration to a trickle. I could see myself supporting a Scott Walker presidential bid even though he is currently being trashed by some freepers for being less than pure on his beliefs regarding illegal immigration.
Since you've been on FR so long you should be aware that there are many types of conservatives. I used to be an ideological conservative, i.e. a purist but as I got older I have become more of a philosophical conservative like Russell Kirk. I do not pretend to be as intelligent or well read as he, but I believe that his ideas regarding conservatism make the most sense to me. I do not believe that ideological conservatives, of which there are many on FR, are idiots. I just think they are wrong. I don't think libertarians, neocons, Calvinists, etc. are stupid. I just believe they are wrong. We are all human. We all have access to a limited amount of information. We all make choices based on that limited and different information and we come to different conclusions.
If you want to label people with different views than yours as idiots then that's your prerogative. But I think it would be wrong to do so.