What is wrong with this sentence:
It would be silly and self-defeating for Republicans to repudiate conservatism’s core principles of a strong national defense, limited government, constitutionalism and protection for unborn children.
You’ll notice that three of the four are general approaches to government – and the middle two were directly attacked by the administration Wehner worked in. But the last is an actual specific policy. This is perhaps a sign of what the Christianist right will demand: that a legal ban on all abortion be a defining principle of conservatism.