Liberals delude themselves about the tea party

Dave Brat, the economics professor who upset Rep. Cantor, epitomizes what a conservative insurgent candidate ought to be. He kept his tone civil, he focused on issues, he treated Rep. Cantor with respect — and perhaps because of that got no help from national Tea Party groups or from those in Washington who loudly proclaim their hostility to the “GOP establishment.”

They expended their efforts instead on behalf of more strident candidates, some with disturbing associations and ethical challenges, in quixotic challenges to “establishment” conservatives.

But in most primaries, pluralities and sometimes majorities of those who identify with the Tea Party vote for the candidates their self-proclaimed generals oppose. Only those incumbents more responsive to special interests than to their constituents have gotten into trouble.

“The civil war in the Republican Party is so civil,” remarked John Dickerson of the liberal webzine Slate. The GOP primaries are producing strong candidates for the fall, he said.