Remember when Joe Lieberman lost his Senate primary in 2006, then ran against his party's nominee in the general election, earning praise from National Review for recognizing the “importance of fortitude in a good cause”? Or when National Review's Kathryn Jean Lopez called Harry Reid a “bully” for suggesting that campaigning against Democratic nominees for Senate and President might carry some consequences for Lieberman?

As it turns out, National Review isn't quite so forgiving of lapses in party loyalty when the Republicans are the spurned party:

What does it take to earn the opprobrium of the Senate Republican caucus? Would running a write-in campaign against a Republican Senate candidate who won a fairly contested primary be enough to do it? If the offender is Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski, apparently not.

As we all know, Murkowski lost to Joe Miller a few weeks ago in the Alaska primary, proceeded to pout for a while, then announced a write-in bid for the Senate, which we had urged her in the strongest terms to forgo.

…

Given this, it would make sense to strip Murkowski of her status as the ranking member of the Energy Committee because 1) she deserves it; and 2) her appeal is primarily based on her pork-barreling prowess as an inside-D.C. player.