Hugh Hewitt is a great American and one of my political mentors but every once in a while, even the most wonderful guy makes a mistake. In his reaction to the GOP Primary in Rhode Island, the disappointed HH (who energetically backed conservative challenger Steve Laffey) now demonstrates the same sort of Death Wish that Republicans everywhere should resist. He suggests that Laffey's supporters should now cast their votes for the DEMOCRAT in the race, Sheldon Whitehouse, rather than uniting behind the space-case incumbent Senator, Lincoln Chafee (R-Pluto). Why, Hugh, would you ever advise people to vote for a candidate with whom they disagree on EVERYTHING? It's true that Chafee is wrong on big issues (tax cuts, the war, Bush-v-Kerry, Alito) but what are the issues on which he's wrong but the Democrat, Whitehouse, is right? There are good reasons that the White House, and Steve Laffey himself, now support Chafee: keeping GOP control of the Senate is essential for the President to enjoy any success at all in the remainder of his second term, especially with the real possibility that the Dems will take the House. Supporting Laffey in the primary was an honorable if arguable position, but supporting the Democrat in the general is not. Why would you urge such a thing? Pique? Resentment? Rage?

  I know there's an argument that the party is better off without flakes like the often missing Linc, but defeating him in the general isn't just a matter of "getting rid of him" -- it's a matter of sending a new liberal Democrat to Capitol Hill to re-enforce Harry Reid, Teddy the K, Pat Leahy, and the boys. The desire for "Party Purity" (let's purge all these disgusting moderates and RINO's!) is a self-destructive, illogical inclination. Sure, Jumpin' Jim Jeffords is a jerk, but is the GOP really better off because he jumped? How about Connie Morella, a former Congresswoman from Maryland who was also the target of a right wing purge attempt? Is the GOP in the House (where every seat counts) really stronger because, after surviving a Club for Growth jiahd against her, she lost to the Democrat?

  Hugh, you've made the case as well as anyone: politics is about supporting people with whom you agree most, not people with whom you agree perfectly. A pure, ideologically unpolluted party is a dead party --- one that could never, ever build a majority in this complex and divided country. We need Republicans like Arnold, like Spector, like Clifford Case (former Senator from New Jersey and another GOP victim of a rightist purge, whose seat has been held by Democrats ever since.) Isn't it obvious that you win elections by drawing people to your cause even if they don't agree with you completely, rather than pushing people away because they don't agree with you completely?

   Reagan undestood this better than anyone. He once said, "if you agree with me 70% of the time, that doesn't make you my enemy."Okay, Lincoln Chafee only agrees 40% of the time (he has a lifetime American Conservative Union voting record of 37% -- pathetic, admittedly, but still better than any sitting Democrat). In any event, when Reagan had a chance to select running mates he reached to his left, both times-- naming the liberal GOP Senator Richard Schweiker as his VP designate in 1976 (when he failed to win the nomination), and the moderate George Herbert Walker Bush as his Veep in 1980. If the greatest conservative in recent history understood the idea that reaching out is better than driving out, we should learn from his example.