BYRON YORK: Christine O’Donnell Gives GOP Establishment A Thumpin’.
I love this:
“A lot of people have already said that we can’t win the general election,” O’Donnell told the crowd. After a brief moment of boos, somebody yelled out YES WE CAN! It caught everyone’s ear. O’Donnell broke into a smile and then the crowd took it up.
YES WE CAN!
YES WE CAN!
YES WE CAN!
Read the whole thing.
UPDATE: Don Surber:
Look busy, Washington. The boss is on the premises. The boss is looking for people to lay off.
And the boss has already has sent Democratic Congressman — let’s be honest — Crook Alan Mollohan packing.
Republican Senator Bob Bennett? Late retirement.
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski? Join Daddy in Alaska.
Republican Congressman Mike Castle? No Senate seat for you. Christine O’Donnell beat you by a margin larger than Obama beat McCain.
The Establishment might not like it — Fox News reported: “Party fractures on full display, Republican aides told Fox News Tuesday that O’Donnell would not be getting national fund-raising support” — but who the hell cares?
That’s the Establishment’s worst nightmare: Irrelevance.
ANOTHER UPDATE: Jonah Goldberg:
But, even from my alleged “sell-out” position, there’s some great news to take out of Delaware. The liberal spin on the O’Donnell victory seems to be that the tea parties have reached their high water mark, that the Republican establishment has created a tea-fueled Frankenstein’s monster, that by “sowing hysteria” the Republicans are now getting their much deserved blowback in Delaware.
Feh.
A year ago, the notion that the Republicans had even a dream of taking back the senate was considered delusional. Heck, a year ago, the notion that the Republicans could take back the House was more than far-fetched. And 20 months ago, liberals were telling us we had a “a new liberal order” on our hands and that conservatism was discredited and done for (see my column today). That entire temple of conventional wisdom has come crashing down, thanks in large part to the Herculean efforts of the tea partiers. Let’s say the “establishment” turns out to be right about O’Donnell’s chances in the general. That proves what about the tea parties? That they are a liability for the GOP and conservatism?
Nonsense.
What it proves is that amidst a massive and massively successful grassroots uprising, the tea parties miscalculated in one race. Unfortunate, but hardly calamitous.
That’s a better record than the party insiders. Plus this:
Would I still prefer it if the tea parties had found a stronger candidate? Of course. Do I think it’s better to have a moderate Republican than a liberal Democrat in that seat? Yes (tea partiers certainly understood this with the Scott Brown election).
But I’d rather see the tea parties go too far here and there while shooting for the moon than see them go not far enough everywhere. And I’m glad the message coming out of Delaware to everyone in the tea parties’ way, Republican and Democrat alike, is: Watch out.
Yes, there’s been a lot more miscalculation about the tea partiers than by the tea partiers, hasn’t there? . . . .