Going to bat for the RINOs...

Not me, but rather Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne...

A genial and courtly man in the manner of the elder President Bush (who held a fundraiser for him in Kennebunkport), the nine-term congressman was mourning the decline of both the conciliatory style of politics that animated his career and the moderate Republican disposition that the tea party is determined to destroy.
"There are issues on which, as Republicans and Democrats, we should sit down and work out our differences," (Mike) Castle said Monday night as we sat outside at Kelly's Logan House, a watering hole where he has gathered his closest supporters the night before every election since his first victory, for the neighborhood's state legislative seat, in 1966.

I don't see what Mike Castle's "genial and courtly" manner has to do with any of this. And I don't know exactly what he thinks Republicans and Democrats should be sitting down and talking about. Just a little bit of cap-and-trade? Lower tax increases and not-as-deep spending cuts? Just an "assault weapons ban" with a grandfather clause as opposed to a ban that mandated confiscation? I don't see what's so wrong with the collapse of "the Republican Party not only of Nelson Rockefeller and Tom Dewey, but also of Bob Dole and Howard Baker." Sure, Bob Dole was a fiscal conservative, but he also supported Clinton's assault weapons ban. Why should we trust people like that? Let alone send them to Washington? It strikes me that E.J. Dionne is just pissed that his pet president isn't going to be dealing with (as many) people who "go along to get along" after the November elections.