I think the big point here is that a lot of people call themselves conservatives who are not conservative.
“Are you a conservative or a liberal?” Conservative. Liberals are stupid.
“Who did you vote for?” Obama.
“Are you for or against abortion?” For.
“Do you want socialized medicine?” Yes.
“Do you support the war and occupation of Iraq?” No. (But, invariably, “But I support the troops”)
“Did you support President Bush?” No.
“Did you vote for Republicans?” No. I voted for Democrats, but they aren’t like other Democrats.
And there are the people, like my elderly parents, who are hard-core, Republican-hating Democrats who actually are socially conservative. My near ninety father is a WWII vet and hates every lib social innovation of the last forty years. But he hates Republicans more (FDR is his hero) and he and my mother simply cannot draw the connection between Dem politicians and destructive social behavior.
So we have people like my parents who think partial birth abortion is murder (as devout Catholics they're strongly against any kind of abortion), yet eagerly voted for Obama. Irrational, but that's how many people vote.