Stabbed In The Back

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

So far Republicans picking through the rubble of the shutdown debacle have identified two main culprits for their defeat: the media and moderates within their ranks.

The second of those is the richest because the lesson learned for these Republicans isn’t that they overreached, it’s that they didn’t go far enough. A lack of ideological purity and true commitment to the cause is what sank Republicans. If they had only held together tighter, then Obama and the Democrats would have blinked. It’s an echo of post-election analysis in 2008 and 2012. If only John McCain and Mitt Romney had been more conservative, the White House would have gone Republican, too.

Seeing other “culprits” in the conservative stabbed in the back narrative? Flag them to us by email via the “Comments & News Tips” address toward the top of the page.

Latest Editors' Blog
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Associate Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: