Will A Real Conservative Please Stand Up?

One of the most interesting debates going on currently is on the state of the GOP and the direction the party should take (back to basics? modernize? follow Rush? follow Newt? etc.), and I can't tell you how many times I've been told "Well, _____'s not a real conservative" - to which this Matt Yglesias post offers a good point made by the Brits.

Equally, if a return to “true” conservatism is all that is needed for victory, why is it that, by the conservative movement’s own strict standards, there has been only one truly conservative president since the Second World War? Reagan is the only Republican president who hasn’t been written out the movement. This suggests that, far from being a guarantee of electoral success, Reaganism might better be viewed as an outlier, not a reliable template for future victories. The United States may well be, by international standards, a centre-right nation, but common sense dictates that the “centre” bit matters just as much as the “right”.