Over in The Corner, the redoubtable Ramesh suggests that conservatives ought to take a deep breath before swinging at John McCain for referring, on Don Imus’s radio show, to “quote First Amendment rights” that run contrary to his desire for “clean government.” Ramesh is right that real disagreements exist about what the First Amendment means, and so McCain should not be taken as anti-First Amendment when he could have been saying only that his understanding of its meaning differed from that of his critics.

Still, when Ramesh refers to “[s]ome conservatives,” don’t you wonder whom he means? Surely he has in mind George Will, whose column this morning is an enormously-fun-to-read evisceration of McCain’s constitutional thinking on campaign finance—if “thinking” is not to dignify McCain’s impulses too much.

I think Will is right about the conflict between McCain and the First Amendment. I think Will is wrong to desire that judges rule authoritatively that he and I are right about that. But that makes it even more important that we elect members of Congress, and presidents, who respect authentic constitutional principles, for judges cannot and should not save us from ourselves in matters like this.