A well-deserved demotion...

Looking over recent posts at Redstate, it seems to me that the apparent demotion of conservatives in the Republican party is going to last for a while - and deservedly so.

Nowhere can the lackof perspective and inability to prioritize be reflected more clearly. When House Democrats are starting to try to squelch debate, both with Pelosi's attempt to kill the motion to recommit and their push for the Fairness Doctrine, when they are slow-walking funds for our troops in harm's way, and when 61% of Democrats seem open to the possibility that President Bush had advance warning on 9/11, these conservatives are more interested in asserting philosophical purity, or throwing a fit over a committee assignment. Rather than try to form a coalition with the 39% of Democrats who reject the conspiacy theory - a task that would be very doable with either Rudy Giuliani or Mitt Romney, who have won elections in very Democratic areas, these conservatives reject those out of hand.

We are in the midst of a global war against people determined to establish a global caliphate that reflects a somewhat twisted form of Islam. These are people willing to fly airliners into buildings, or blow themselves up in pizza parlors and bus stations. These are people who have vowed to carry out further attacks on us and to wipe Israel off the map. Defeating them is the primary task that the government of this country has.

And yet, two major players at Redstate seem to be stuck in a September 10th mindset. On September 11, 2001, we had the type of event that required a reassessment of priorities. President Bush did just that. His only failure in that regard was to not communicate the need for a reassessment to conservatives. Then again, I can blame him. Back then, I was under the impression that perhaps conservatives could figure the need for a shift in priorities out for themselves.

Sixty-six months later, though, it seems patently obvious that it was a mistaken assumption. We cannot afford to be diverted by bush-league issues, especially when they pose the reisk of empowering a party whose "base" is willing to seriously consider the stuff that belongs in a conspiracy theory.

If conservatives are unwilling to make sacrifices in order to ensure our country's victory in the global war on terror, then they'd better get used to warming the bench, because at this point, I cannot trust them to be out there on the field.