My Daily Standard column, "Family Squabbles", addresses the Harriet Miers debate and the vicious tone it has taken in the conservative punditry and blogosphere. I ask the questions: have we paid too much for our unity, and has our disinclination to engage in vigorous debate on policy created such a harbor of resentment that we can no longer disagree agreeably even among fellow conservatives?

If we are to govern in the majority, we had better learn how to handle ourselves better when our interests conflict. We got to this position of controlling the levers of power through the efforts of people like Hugh Hewitt, George Will, Charles Krauthammer, George Bush, Ken Mehlman, Tom DeLay, and the various bloggers and grassroots organizers weighing in on vital policy issues every day. Calling each other "pimps", "shills", "hysterics", and other names may make for memorable rhetoric but it will undermine our own credibility in the future. We need all these same people in 2006 and 2008.

I'm not arguing for an end to the debate; I'm arguing for a return to civility while we're conducting it. What do you think?

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» Conservative Squabbling from Ordinary Everyday Christian
Captain Ed has written two things that everyone in the Miers nomination debate has to read: "Family Squabbles," his Daily Standard column, and "Do Conservatives Know How to Dissent?," his latest Captain's Quarters entry. [Read More]

Tracked on October 26, 2005 10:03 AM

» Hating Your Own Is A Mistake from The View From The Nest
Captain Ed decries the ability of Republicans to have a civil disagreement in his post Do Conservatives Know How To Dissent? Sad to say, this is not a new development. Consider the case of Dr. Jerry Pournelle. [Read More]

Tracked on October 26, 2005 12:01 PM

» Miers and the schism from Can't See the Center
Captain Ed is having a “can’t we all just get along?” moment. ... I didn’t vote for George Bush to tell him how to run the presidency. I voted to entrust him with the office. [Read More]

Tracked on October 26, 2005 12:35 PM

» I say she's the straw that broke the camel's back from ProfessorBainbridge.com
Ed says she was the spark that lit the fuse. Po-tay-toe. Po-tah-toe. [Read More]

Tracked on October 26, 2005 5:03 PM

» Is debate possible without name calling? from The Pink Flamingo Bar Grill
Captain Ed raises an important point regarding [Read More]

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» RNC are you listening? from Aggressive Conservative
Looks like Ken Mehlman didn't get that nasty email I sent him when he last requested cash from me. I got a postage letter from the RNC in the mail today.... Frankly, the only thing the RNC stands for at this point is holding power for its own sake. ... [Read More]

Tracked on October 26, 2005 11:38 PM

» Who first said "that said"? from sisu
That said. It's the is, is of our day. Meaningless sentence filler used to puff up the gravitas of the speaker. They all do it, unthinkingly, and that's the problem. Unthinkingness of the opinionati herd. We just did a google [Read More]

Tracked on November 3, 2005 6:22 AM