Most of the time these columns are spent defending the tenets of Conservatism and those that espouse them.  In this piece, this columnist must take some exception with the behavior of a few within my own Conservative ranks.  Their actions have moved beyond the necessary confines of decency and common sense.

I refer to a new popular program called “The Five”.  It consists of five political pundits who sit around a table and debate, in sometimes colorful fashion, the various issues of the day.  While I generally find the program entertaining and informative, today there was a segment that gave pause and then disappointment to this viewer.

The topic, quite frankly, on the surface seemed unworthy of discussion and, really, none of their business.  They discussed of basketball game in San Antonio between two high schools; one with a majority of Caucasians, one with a majority of Latinos.  The Caucasian school won the game, whereupon, the winning school’s student body began chanting, “U.S.A, U.S.A.”!  In the aftermath of this, the leadership of the winning high school issued an apology to their opponents’ school for the behavior of their student body.

To my surprise, the majority of the co-hosts on the show took umbrage with the issued apology as if the school was apologizing for the school’s patriotism…really?  Juan Williams, a liberal whom I generally as a rule disagree with, was the first to show some sanity by explaining that this was not an international game.  This was no triumph of the United States over some visiting foreign team.  This was simply two Texas high schools competing in basketball.  There was no need for chanting “U.S.A.” at their opponent.

As the other commentators converged on Mr. Williams, I despaired that my fellow conservatives were arguing out of blind passion and that none would advocate for common sense.  Thankfully, Dana Perino spoke up with fairness and clear-headedness that should be the banner of all conservatives and agreed with Juan Williams.  This issue is not that difficult.

Some children misbehaved at a basketball game.  They allowed the tensions of the immigration issues of our day filter into their competitive spirit.  There is no international border that separates the two schools, but there is the color of their skin and origin of their race.  Why didn’t they chant the name of their high school, their fight song or their mascot?  The adults present used this as a teaching opportunity. They showed there is a correct way to hail the symbols of your nation and it is not to diminish the validity of your fellow Americans.  The leadership of these schools behaved like adults and handled the matter effectively and rightly.  They are to be commended.

Sometimes, unfortunately, there are times when we as combatants in these ideological wars get so engrossed in staking our ground, we lose focus on truth. We rail against a wrong whether it’s there or not.  It’s what we call here in Maine “right of reason”.  For this matter, the school leaders of San Antonio, Juan Williams and Dana Perino behaved as adults.  Eric Bolling, Andrea Tantaros and Kimberly Guilfoyle, in this instance, did not.