After blowing what at first looked like two can’t-miss opportunities in 2012 and 2010, the Republican Party was finally able on Tuesday to win back control of the U.S. Senate. Riding a wave of conservative anger (which, thanks in part to liberal apathy, flowed mostly unimpeded), the GOP almost had a clean sweep in its Senate campaigns, while also expanding its majority in the House of Representatives. And while many factors contributed to Republicans’ dominance, a new report from the New York Times suggests that it’s the Republican Party’s establishment wing — and its obsession with fielding more media-savvy candidates — that Democrats should look to if they’re searching for someone to blame.

To be clear, GOP leadership at the national level, especially in the Senate, did a damn fine job of avoiding most of the mistakes made during the last two federal elections. Future Senate majority leader and longtime top GOP strategist Mitch McConnell deserves all the right-wing hosannahs coming his way. But as the media continues to sing McConnell’s praises, let’s hope that it does so with a clear understanding of how and why he succeeded. Contrary to what we’re no doubt going to hear from some fuzzy-headed pundits, it wasn’t because he helped establishment-friendly moderates defeat Tea Party radicals in the primaries. It was because he sidestepped the GOP civil war entirely, focusing on style over substance and making sure every GOP nominee was marketable and media savvy.Read More.Source: Salon, Elias Isquith