“Hopefully we’ll go into eight to 10 races and beat the snot out of them,” said former Rep. Steve LaTourette of Ohio, whose new political group, Defending Main Street, aims to raise $8 million to fend off tea party challenges against more mainstream Republican incumbents. “We’re going to be very aggressive and we’re going to get in their faces.”

The caterwauling over the GOP brand ramped up after President Obama’s re-election and a handful of setbacks in the Senate before hitting full screech as the country hurtled toward default. For some Republicans, the time for soul-searching is over. “This is a battle we have to fight,” said Republican consultant John Feehery, a former adviser to top Republican leaders on Capitol Hill. “We can’t just lie down and let this happen.”

Tactics being discussed among Republican strategists, donors, and party leaders include running attack ads against tea party candidates for Congress; overthrowing Ron Paul’s libertarian acolytes dominating the Iowa and Minnesota state parties; promoting open primaries over nominating conventions, like the ones that produced Republican hardliners like Virginia gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli and shutdown-instigator Mike Lee of Utah; and countering political juggernauts Heritage Action, the Club for Growth, and FreedomWorks that target Republican incumbents who have consorted with Democrats…

“We want to avoid situations like 2010 with (Delaware Republican nominee) Christine O’Donnell, where a candidate gains momentum and the skeletons come out after the primary,” said Crossroads spokesman Jonathan Collegio. “If skeletons exist, we’ll make every effort to make sure they’re known to every group that spends money long before the primary.”