But the kernel of truth in the “purity for profit” attack shows why this offensive by the establishment may be self-defeating. When McConnell and Boehner attack the Heritage Foundation and the SCF, how do you think that affects these groups’ fundraising? Do you think the Boehner blowup and the Teller firing were good or bad for the outside groups?

There’s the establishment’s first problem: It can’t win with a frontal assault. If it strikes SCF, it makes SCF more powerful. And some in the leadership see specific groups, or even individuals, as the problem. One GOP operative referred to SCF president Matt Hoskins as “some guy in a swivel chair in San Diego.”

Hoskins sees it differently. If SCF didn’t exist, grassroots conservatives would still demand more of their party leadership than they’re getting. “They hold the grassroots in contempt,” Hoskins says of GOP leaders.

Here’s the establishment’s second problem: Some in the GOP want to go back to an era in which official party leaders had a monopoly on money and power within the party, and that era is never returning. Changes in campaign finance law has made it possible for small, loosely organized groups to raise money; new technology means news no longer belongs to people who own printing presses or television stations.