Last Bastion of Conservatism

In reading this tidbit from Glenn Reynolds, I had this observation to make about conservatives and conservatism:

Aside from a certain Senator, it seems that the Republican delegation from Arizona is one of the last bastion's of conservatism going. You've got Senator Kyl, Congressmen Hayworth, Flake, Franks and Shadegg--strong conservatives all.

Then you have the not-so-strong conservatives...McCain, Graham, Hagel and the usually suspect trio of Snowe, Chafee and Collins. Let's compare and contrast.

Here from and about Flake taken from Glenn's post:

Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona, another conservative stalwart, tried unsuccessfully to strip millions of dollars worth of farm subsidies out of the bill. “I offered eight amendments and every single one got voted down,” he says.

After the defeat, Flake told the New York Times, “"We have one of our former members in jail right now for basically selling earmarks"—referring to disgraced former member Randy “Duke” Cunningham. “He was able to get his earmarks through the legislative process without being challenged. Jack Abramoff reportedly referred to the Appropriations Committee as an ‘earmark favor factory.’”

Meanwhile, straight from Graham on Thursday about the just-passed Senate Immigration bill:

"I'm just pleased as punch to be a member of the Senate this week. It's been the highlight of my time in the Senate. You know who's out of the shadows? Every member of Congress. Before you can get the other people out of the shadows you gotta get us to take a stand. Now, this is a high point of my time in the Senate, but if you really want to get people out of the shadows and fix broken borders, you need to fix your Congress, and this Congress is on the road to self-healing."

Huh? Which of these people is making sense and which is not? Which is taking an historically conservative line and which is...still not making sense?