Reality-based conservatives

I've recently discovered Daniel Larison's blog, Eunomia, at The American Conservative. I'm undoubtedly cherry-picking to fit my own biases, but I find his critique of the current Republican party fascinating. He's not a big fan of McCain's campaign either. Here's a snippet from his take on last night's presidential debate:

The correct view is exactly the opposite–if McCain knows the truth, doesn’t really believe what he’s saying and tells lies unconvincingly, that is evidence of the far deeper corruption of the man. Instead of being badly misguided or misinformed, he willfully says things that he knows have no merit or that he knows are unworthy of anyone in his position. In short, being a bad smear artist does not make someone ethical or honorable; it makes him unethical and incompetent.