I'm sure Duncan Hunter is a fine individual, and has the full support of Conservatives in the party. He would lose in an electoral landslide in the general election.
I'm being realistic. Conservatism has lost a lot of credibility. Whether Bush is conservative or not, he has that image and he and the hitherto Republican Congress ran everything into the ground. The populace will not vote for just anyone--but they will vote for someone like Guiliani.
If you don't support him, that's fine--just don't be surpised when the new pure-conservative GOP is a perpetual minority party. Or, it can be flexible and adapt, survive and flourish.
That fine post deserves repeating, if not required reading.
This is absolutely true. The 'rats will use George Bush to beat conservatism over the head from now till November 08, beginning with his "bigspending deficits." In the mind of the mushy middle where millions of votes reside, he is a conservative and a screw up. That's life. We better face it or pay the price of denial.