Bait and switch

This one's for the "With friends like this, you don't need enemies" file, perhaps with the subcategory, "If you allow yourself to be lectured on conservatism by The Journal Gazette editorial page, you deserve what happens." Tea party activists are seeking to challenge Sen. Richard Lugar in the primary next year on the grounds that he is not sufficiently conservative. Now the senator is being defended vigrously by The Journal Gazette. Case closed!

If you want to read the whole thing undiluted by my comments, you can do so here. But the temptation to examine the piece closely is overwhelming. (My comments are in red.)

 The movement to replace Sen. Richard Lugar on the 2012 general election ballot with a more conservative Republican candidate raises questions and gives voters a chance to consider exactly what Hoosiers want in a U.S. senator.

(Well, voters always have a chance to consider what we want in a senator. It's called an election. Tying the "chance to consider" with a current "movement" is just a backhanded way of saying you hate that movement and what it stands for.)

Conservatives affiliated with tea party groups say the six-term senator is too liberal. They cite his moves to reduce the U.S. nuclear arsenal (as part of a global reduction) and to support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants (which, just a couple of years ago, many other Republicans supported).

(The first of many times when "conservative" and "Republican" are inappropriately used interchangeably. Conservatives don't care what positions "many other Republicans" supported. They care whether a particular Republican does or does not support conservative causes.)

But is that enough reason for conservatives to expel a veteran senator who is widely respected across political ideologies for his knowledge, independence and wisdom?

(Well, maybe not "enough reason," but since arms reduction involves the national defense and "path to citizenship" involves a respect for the rule of law, both principle concerns in the conservative canon, they're certainly a big deal. And being "widely respectied across the political spectrum" is not exactly an answer to "He's not conservative enough," is it?)

That's just one of the questions voters need to ask. Among others: