BEN DOMENECH: Base More Mature Than GOP Elites. “One of the most interesting aspects of the 2012 election is how the tea party movement has proven more politically mature than the center-right’s self-styled elites, and those who spent much of the Republican primary season chiding swathes of people for being insufficiently pragmatic have turned out to be far more childish than the conservative base.” I’ve noticed that, too.

Plus, from Stacy McCain:

Remarkable irony: Many of those conservative now working hardest to elect Mitt Romney are conservatives who spent the primary campaign supporting other candidates in an effort to prevent Romney’s nomination as the “It’s His Turn” choice of the party establishment. Meanwhile, the elite pundits who spent the primary season nitpicking every fault of Romney’s rivals are now the first to raise the white flag of surrender, abandoning hope in the candidate that they insisted was the only one in the GOP field with any realistic chance to win in November.

Whoever wins in November, those folks will lose. Related thoughts from Elizabeth Foley and Ross Douthat.