COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. — With John McCain racking up delegates on a steady march toward the Republican presidential nomination, deeply conservative voters are at a loss.
They don't like McCain. They've tried, and failed, to stop him. So it was with growing frustration, and an unaccustomed sense of impotence, that many conservatives surveyed the electoral map Wednesday.
"We're in a political dilemma, as well as a personal dilemma," said Jessica Echard, executive director of the conservative advocacy group Eagle Forum. "What will we do? What can be done?"
Sit out in November? Unite behind McCain? Pressure the Arizona senator to change his policies? Demand a specific running mate? The debate, often biting, has consumed online forums, talk radio and conservative groups.
Behind it all, a key question looms: Will conservative Republicans be selling out if they back McCain -- or if they don't?
"I keep hearing that we need to be loyal Republicans and support McCain if he becomes our candidate, but I question why we should have to be more loyal to the party than McCain has [been]," a caller told right-wing radio host Rush Limbaugh.
He interrupted her with enthusiasm: "That is brilliant! That is brilliant!"
Other radio hosts have taken to calling the Republican front-runner McLame, McVain or McAmnesty, a barb about his support for a bill that would provide a path to citizenship for most illegal immigrants in the country.
On her show Wednesday, talk-show host Laura Ingraham played a clip of McCain saying he respects his Democratic rivals, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. "Oh, great," Ingraham interjected with sarcasm. "You're not going after Hillary for being a big fat phony?"
Later, she spoke over other McCain audio clips: "Oh, come on!" or "He's lying!"
Conservative disdain for McCain runs deep, mostly because of his stand on illegal immigration. Other black marks: He voted against President Bush's major tax cuts, though now he supports making them permanent. He opposes a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. And he's not only willing, but expresses an eagerness, to work with Democrats in Congress.
"I don't want to reach out to them. I want to defeat their agenda," one caller told Limbaugh.
"Amen, bro," the host responded. "Amen."
Off the airwaves, Republican voters expressed similar resentment of McCain.
