People are buzzing about this online but I’m not sure why. “I regret deeply that she was chosen,” he says of Scozzafava in an apparent reversal of his prior support. Except it’s not a reversal: He admitted to Andrew Wilkow way back on October 21 that she’s not the person he would have nominated. His endorsement was always strategic, to support Republican leaders at the local level and dissuade third-party challenges next year.

Why Republicans in a district where there’s no primary should defer to party leaders instead of rallying behind their preferred candidate is a question left unanswered, but that may be because it’s unasked. Ah well.