When Republicans fight back

In the aftermath of the costly victory at Shiloh in 1862, career bureaucrats in Washington called for the removal of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant. President Abraham Lincoln responded, “I can’t spare this man; he fights.” Our first Republican president had the fortitude to stick with it when it counts, and he wanted generals such as Grant, who did the same. Union leadership at the start of the Civil War was gun-shy and inept, but names such as Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan changed that.

In recent years the GOP has looked more like the people Lincoln ended up firing than General Grant. But in Wednesday’s House Intelligence Committee hearings, rank and file members of the GOP showed some resolve and fought back.