When I say I don’t expect “purity” (that’s why I put in in quotation marks, BTW), I mean I don’t expect any candidate to hold exactly the same position I hold on every issue. Period, paragraph.
But that in no way implies I’ll vote for any yahoo who thinks he/she’s qualified, like the Pawlentys, Giulanis, Pauls and Romneys of this world. I expect them to be conservative, and I expect them to win through the primary process. But I don’t, after all is said and done, expect to be in lock-step with the winner.
And that’s NOT “purity”.
There could be a big difference in the position you hold and the conservative agenda.
For instance, if a candidate is 100% for the conservative agenda, but doesn’t care one bit about gay marriage, does that person get your vote?
This is the problem, we as conservatives face. We don’t negotiate away our beliefs and we aren’t supposed to. A candidate has a choice, be a conservative or be a liberal. The voters have a choice, don’t vote for right vs left, vote for right vs wrong.