My letter to Hugh Hewitt and the Weekly Standard

Hugh,
I hate to say it but you may be wrong or blind on this one. First off, I am a conservative and a Republican. I'll be working in the upper echelons of the party this summer, so I think my credentials in order. The two nominees who won't be given an up-or-down vote due to the deal were by no means assured a victory. Bush avoided two potential embarassments (like the one he may yet unfortunately suffer with Bolton). This whole thing is in no way deeply unethical, it is ethical in the deepest tradition of Senatorial compromise (and anyways, whatever happened to Senators advising as well as consenting?). And no greater issue than the war to the GOP? The economy, stupid. We're running sky-high deficits right now, with no clear path out. If McCain chooses to try and somehow balance the budget, there are conservatives that will vote for him. I speak for a younger, more moderate (I hope) wing of the Republican party to whom McCain is a truly great man. Don't slander his reputation (and remember - Kristol supported him in 2000). This publication never, NEVER was a mouthpiece of the administration, yet now it's lashing out, full of vitriol, against one of the greatest Americans of the last fifty years. McCain may not run for president, but he shouldn't be slandered in the meantime. As for Chafee - what is so wrong with independents and voices from outside of the party norms? The Weekly Standard was founded as a neoconservative publication, in an era when the neocons were essentially a voice in the wilderness. Indeed, neocons have always seemed to be socially moderate - until now. Now you have strayed from foreign policy to pick up the banner of the culture wars which isn't where you should be bothering yourselves anyways. On a related note, it sickened me to see Chuck Hagel, who I had always regarded as both a moderate and a good man pandering to the religious right (much as you now do), criticizing the deal, all to further his presidential ambitions. The Democrats were wrong to do what they did, but we were wrong too to try to not find the middle way out. I can only say thank God for John McCain and the other 13 brave senators who chose to stand with him, though I fear many will pay at the hands of vengeful religious zealots for their bravery. They truly serve this nation, not some craven interest group or base personal ambition. I can only hope they are not the last of a dying breed, but the first of a proud new generation to whom partisan is a dirty word, and patriotism equals compromise.
God Bless this country.