This was my reaction the other day to the remarks by former President George H.W. Bush at his endorsement of John McCain:

In its efforts to deal with John McCain's "conservative problem," the McCain campaign is showing how bad that problem is. 

The latest evidence of that is bringing out George H.W. Bush to criticize conservatives who have problems with the Senator.  Believe it or not, this was touted by some in the McCain camp as something that would establish the Senator's conservative bona fides and improve his standing with conservatives!

Bush 41 is the personification of a Republican Establishment that is out of touch with conservatives.  In 1988, he was elected to continue the policies of Ronald Reagan - to serve, in effect 'Reagan's third term - yet he repudiated those policies as fast as he could.  He lost his re-election in 1992, receiving 38 percent of the vote, because so many conservatives stayed home or voted for Ross Perot.  Is that the kind of example the McCain campaign wants to put forth? 

The conflict between conservatives and the elder Bush is no secret.  In 1992, I wrote a book, Lip Service: George Bush's 30-Year Battle With Conservatives, detailing the elder Bush's longstanding conflict with the group that is dominant among GOP activists. 
 
No one who knows anything about grassroots conservatives would think that George H.W. Bush's testimony would be worth anything to conservatives.  Rather than establish a connection with conservatives, this blunder reconfirms the fact that McCain doesn't understand them, doesn't understand why they have a problem with him, and isn't taking the steps he needs to fix his problems.

With conservatives, John McCain is in a hole.  He needs to quit digging.