Pundits are claiming that John McCain’s improbable return to front-runner status in the Republican nomination process represents an implosion of the party, and the final dissolution of the Reagan coalition. While this judgement may be more the work of wishful thinking than sober political analysis, McCain’s ascendancy has induced conservative talk radio hosts to throw a collective temper tantrum redolent of Howard Dean and MoveOn.org at their most infantile.

Unwilling to concede the nomination to a man who, in their opinion, is not an adherent to the one true faith, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter embarked on a campaign to demonize the ostensible leader of the Republican Party. The conservative airwaves filled with a litany of McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy, McCain-Lieberman, and McCain opposed the Bush Tax Cuts, a chorus of indignation designed to improve the electoral prospects of Mitt Romney, their annointed-by-default savior.

In a profound demonstration of unanticipated consequences, their zeal resulted not in a rebirth of Romney’s prospects, but in the loss of their Messiah. Romney’s surprising abdication from the Rush-tailored throne at the CPAC convention in Washington last week was a shocking example of blowback. It was also an act of Presidential mettle, a demonstration of true statesmanship uncommon in this age of political cynicism.

If it were just about me, Romney announced, I would continue this race. But it isn’t about me. It’s about the security of our nation in a time of war. Romney recognized what his arbitrary disciples failed to, that their assault on the front runner threatened to shred the Republican Party. He realized that this latest in a long string of self-destructive acts heightened the prospects of to the infantile left.

The former Massachusetts governor understands, as Rush, Sean and Ann do not, that there are greater issues than fealty to a social issues agenda. There are matters more grave than the failure to offer obeisance to the self-appointed gatekeepers of conservative rectitude.

Forget about a return to 70% income tax rates. Forget about Hillary’s dream of a national Health Police force. Forget about turning public schools into the exclusive bailiwick of the NEA. Those things don’t matter. Soaking the rich doesn’t matter when Wall Street is polluted by a dirty bomb. The politics of Supreme Court Justices don’t matter when their courthouse is a smouldering pile of rubble. Gay marriage is a nonissue under Sharia law.

Romney understands that the only issue that matters is the war we are fighting against Islamist jihadism. He understands as the infantile left doesn’t, that regardless of the merits of or justification for the liberation of Iraq, it is the primary battlefield against those forces committed to our destruction. He understands that running away from that battlefield constitutes surrender. He understands further that surrender is not an option. Not in our eyes, but in the eyes of our enemies. They don’t seek our surrender, they seek our destruction, and surrendering in Iraq will send the message that the end game has begun.

McCain understands this, too, and will be the strongest force to preserve American interests and security. What is surprising is that Rush, Sean and Ann do not understand this. Though they have seemed to have fought the good fight, and have mouthed the right phrases over the years, in this case, they have borrowed the play book of the left. They have relegated the Long War to the back pages, and have elevated extraneous social issues to the forefront. Though the issues upon which they focus differ in content from those of MoveOn.org, the childish wish that the war would "just go away" is identical.

For Rush and Sean to vow to abstain, and for Ann to threaten to vote for Hillary is absurd. They know better than this. To believe that Hillary is more conservative than McCain, as Coulter claims, is to accept her lies. Hillary, the arguably distaff half of the Billary machine, is a less polished student of triangulation, but an aspiring adept to the philosophy of "tell them what they want to hear." Her entire Senate career has been designed to float the implausible premise that she is a "moderate." Her posturing runs defiant to every word that proceeded from her mouth during her life leading up to her election, and Ann Coulter knows this. She knows that any pretense of moderation is a lie. She knows that she would be the worst, most despised Commander in Chief since her husband. She surely should know that it is suicidal to fight a war when the troops have lost faith in their commanders.

This trio of conservative saboteurs must also know that Barack Obama, Hillary’s opponent, and ever more likely victor in the Democrat race, is untried at best. He brings a playground mentality to international affairs. He believes in the importance of making nice. He believes a battlefield is a place where people go to play. Either option at the helm is unthinkable in a time of war. Romney understands this. It is why he ceded the nomination to the dread McCain. It is high time his self-serving supporters do the same.