"The President recognized that the creation of the Bull Moose party would mean “a long hard fight with probable defeat” in November, but it would also end all future chances of Roosevelt’s nomination by the Republican party. The President believed that Roosevelt had so discredited himself at the convention that “many who followed him before . . . will now fall away from him and yield to the calls of regularity.” In any case, Taft felt that victory in November was not as important as preserving the party as the defender of “conservative government and conservative institutions.” He almost welcomed a purifying defeat."