Ramesh and I have been on the same page re McCain for a while now. I can’t speak for him, but my feeling about McCain is one of unpassionate realism. Hence today’s column . The response has been even split between anti-McCain folks who are shocked and disappointed with me and pro-McCain people who want to applaud my clear thinking. A small number of readers have actually had the reaction I was looking for, which was merely to give McCain a fresh look given the alternatives.

A few responses to general themes of the most hostile emails. First, I think some folks confuse being a bad Republican — which McCain has surely sometimes been — with being a bad conservative which he has less frequently been. His apostasies often cut for and against his conservative credentials. Second, the most common objection is that McCain’s push for campaign finance reform is a first order disqualifier, end of story. I’m actually quite sympathetic to this and I think my dozens of columns on campaign finance reform make it clear I think McCain is all wrong on the subject. But the folks offering this complaint do need to answer how they view Bush, since it was President Bush who signed the bill into law at a ceremony where he ostentatiously took credit for signing it while also confessing that he thought the law was unconstitutional. Moreover, Fred Thompson was a CFR supporter unless I’m mistaken, and I’d bet Giuliani was too (though I’d need to look that up).

Some readers complain that the war in Iraq doesn’t trump everything as far as they’re concerned so my logic about McCain isn’t persuasive. To which I respond: Fair enough. But Giuliani’s support seems in large part to be driven by people who think the war on terror is the single issue in the ‘08 election. If that’s the case, they need a better argument for why McCain is unacceptable.

Lastly, I should say that I wasn’t endorsing McCain. I’m not even sure I do endorsements — I need to check my bylaws. But I do think the knee-jerk anti-McCain position deserves re-thinking given the facts on the ground. I can respect people who think McCain isn’t the right guy — I said in the column there are good reasons to be against him. But, I think it would at minimum be fruitful for some conservatives to think through why they’re against him a little more thoroughly.