“They are not liberals or socialists, as so many gleefully assert.”
Supporting the most liberal GOP candidate in the Primary, they certainly have no claim as a conservative, so what are they?
IMO, they are conservatives who are hoping, perhaps incorrectly, that Rudy is a conservative too. Some of them are caught up in the general admiration that most Americans feel for the man, others may just think he is a winner and support him because they see him as the man who will most easily defeat Hillary.
I'm not sure that the media will let anyone defeat a real life socialist like Hillary, so it may all be academic.
If FR cripples itself over this Rudy argument, which looks possible, it will be a help to the Dems.