Ouch! Indiana Republican Edition

Once moderate Republican Senator and acknowledged foreign policy expert Richard Lugar was defeated in the Indiana primary yesterday by even farther to the right Tea Partier, Richard Mourdock. Lugar used to be my Senator and I always liked and appreciated him. Unfortunately, he’s been forced farther and farther to the right over the last few years. Last night, having been liberated from reelection concerns, he belatedly found some of his spine.

If Mr. Mourdock is elected, I want him to be a good senator. But that will require him to revise his stated goal of bringing more partisanship to Washington. He and I share many positions, but his embrace of an unrelenting partisan mindset is irreconcilable with my philosophy of governance and my experience of what brings results for Hoosiers in the Senate. In effect, what he has promised in this campaign is reflexive votes for a rejectionist orthodoxy and rigid opposition to the actions and proposals of the other party. His answer to the inevitable roadblocks he will encounter in Congress is merely to campaign for more Republicans who embrace the same partisan outlook. He has pledged his support to groups whose prime mission is to cleanse the Republican party of those who stray from orthodoxy as they see it.

Yeah, too bad you didn’t live up to that philosophy over the last three years; you just became part of the problem.

Hopefully this lurch to the extreme right will give Democrats in Indiana a better shot at capturing this seat in November.