Well, That Did a lot of Good!

Señator McCain and his supporters have a tin ear. They come off very condescending and end up hurting the cause of conservative unity. Fred Barnes penned an article for The Weekly Standard entitled "Let's Grow Up, Conservatives" (And defeat the Democrats in November.) Even if Fred is quoting Barry Goldwater the following is dumb to say:

If he [Señator McCain] continues to reach out to them [conservatives] while running as a conservative, they need to heed Barry Goldwater's advice in 1960. "Let's grow up, conservatives," he said. "If we want to take this party back, and I think we can, let's get to work."

Source: The Weekly Standard – "Let's Grow Up, Conservatives" (And defeat the Democrats in November.) by Fred Barnes

What else do we have? Early on Fred says:

Bringing conservatives on board won't be easy for McCain. (Nor would uniting Republicans of all stripes be easy for Mitt Romney, should he upset the McCain bandwagon and win the nomination.) Republicans are in a sour mood, especially the talk-radio mafia that regards McCain as anything but a reliable conservative. (They harbor qualms about Romney, too.)

Source: The Weekly Standard – "Let's Grow Up, Conservatives" (And defeat the Democrats in November.) by Fred Barnes So, twice in the article (at least) Fred essentially condescends to those who do not like Señator McCain. At least he does concede the fact there is legitimate cause for conservative unease with Señator McCain:

McCain's touchiest problem--his scourge--is talk radio. Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, and others raise legitimate complaints about his flirtations with Democrats and his apostasy on campaign finance, guns, immigration, and embryonic stem cell research.

Source: The Weekly Standard – "Let's Grow Up, Conservatives" (And defeat the Democrats in November.) by Fred Barnes While his supporters compare ACU ratings and say he really is a conservative his biggest marks with the public seem to be in sticking it to Conservatives.

Señator McCain's past actions have conservatives uneasy and then listening to Señator McCain on the campaign trail is doing little to convince conservatives of Señator McCain's conservatism. Then Señator McCain's supporters write columns like Fred's telling his detractors to grow up? That will win over friends, let me tell you!

Senator McCain has not yet locked up the nomination now is not the time to be telling his opponents to be quiet. If Señator McCain gets the nomination and a month afterwards he still has similar problems with conservatives then we can revisit, but if that is the case then is it not too late?