AU REVOIR, LES ENFANTS: At the Corner, Michael Walsh writes, “Yesterday’s forced retirement of Senator Richard Lugar of ‘Indiana’ should prove a bracing lesson in the use of the pike for didactic purposes. It’s also one of the best arguments for the repeal of the 17th amendment in a long time:”

As I’ve said before, senators no longer represent their states to Washington, they represent Leviathan to the states, handing out either goodies or punishments as their whim and the political winds dictate. Their primary allegiance is not to the voters back “home” but to their cloakroom colleagues (hence the “bipartisanship” fetish that is particularly virulent in the Senate) on Capitol Hill, and to the Beltway parasites who feed off them.

Indeed, Lugar didn’t even live in Indiana. According to this story, he stayed in a hotel in Indianapolis, at taxpayer expense, whenever he deigned to visit:

Lugar didn’t help his campaign when it came to light that he no longer owned a residence in Indiana. He instead stayed in an Indianapolis hotel when he returned to the state – using taxpayer funds. Mourdock’s campaign said the revelation symbolized how Lugar had become too entrenched in Washington.

Regarding out of touch, local residence-challenged representatives on the side of the aisle, Moe Lane writes that the freshness dating has long expired on Pete Stark of California. Perhaps Solyndra could offer him one of their fine electric cars as a lovely parting gift.