Over the last few days Connecticut has been subjected to a disreputable effort by some Republicans and so-called conservatives to transplant the vicious, unreasoning politics of Washington, D.C., to Hartford; a form of political discourse that puts personal ideology and party power above the public good; a discourse that demonizes the opponent, while trying to maintain a fragile and unconvincing charade of concern for the public’s welfare.

I joined the Republican Party in time to vote for Richard Nixon in 1972 and have remained a loyal member ever since. But my party loyalty, like so many others’, wavers today, because GOP actions, first in Washington and now in Connecticut, have become a national and personal embarrassment. The object of Connecticut Republican spleen today is Justice Andrew McDonald. It should not be so.