Passion is no substitute for judgment

Conservative thinker David Frum unloads on his brethren: "Republicans and conservatives have worked themselves into a frenzy of rage and contempt for President Barack Obama. ... In their passion, Republicans convinced themselves that the constitutional republic and the free-enterprise system were threatened as never before. Their response? To threaten to blow up the free-enterprise system and wreck the republic unless they gained their point. Republicans have become so gripped by pessimism and panic that they feel they have nothing to lose by rushing into a catastrophe now. But there is a lot to lose, and in these past weeks America nearly lost it. Let's hope that as America steps back from the brink, Republicans remember that it's their job to protect the system, not to smash the system in hopes of building something better from the ruins. That's how student radicals think -- not conservatives."