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John McCain simply can't win with some conservatives. There is nothing he can do. Brent Bozell, a lion of the right, explains why in today's Washington Post: "This is a movement fed up with betrayals, and they've come one after the other."

Some die-hard conservatives have made the best possible case for McCain. Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolten argues that "Tactical domestic political considerations should not trump national security." In other words, conservatives' desire to deny McCain the election because of past political treachery, however just, would place life-and-death decision making in the hands of irresponsible actors, and that would be wrong.

Bozell offers a list of things McCain should do to reengage conservatives on his behalf, among them these:

"McCain must present a strategy to defeat the threat of radical Islam. He needs to call on the United States to rebuild its military infrastructure, so devastated by the Clinton administration. He should secure our borders by a date certain. In every great struggle, the citizenry -- everyone, not just the country's military -- has been challenged to participate. McCain could make this the clarion call for volunteerism, for national service."

He's right about some of those. But it will be tough to make the case for rebuilding the military's infrastructure "so devastated by the Clinton administration," without some mention of the stewardship of the past eight years.

One last nitpick of a point. In Bozell's sketch of GOP establishment pokes at conservatives, he writes:

"In 1996, a new crop of conservative leaders presented themselves as presidential candidates, but again the party establishment would have none of Buchanan, Steve Forbes, Phil Gramm or Dan Quayle. Instead, they pooled their resources behind Dole, who offered nothing to energize the conservative base while the professional class confidently clucked that conservatives had "nowhere else to go." Again we stayed home. There was no enthusiasm for volunteer action. Again the moderate candidate was routed."

Forbes and Gramm, of course, back McCain.