[Update: See correction below]

The Fix considers whether the GOP will heed Mitch McConnell’s advice:

McConnell’s advocacy for a sort of Republican realpolitik is, quite clearly, the right approach for his party in Congress. The shutdown was, by any measure, a political disaster for Republicans and one that they simply cannot afford to repeat again. (We mean that literally. If Republicans forced another government shutdown over President Obama’s health-care law, it would almost certainly negate their chances of winning the Senate back in 2014 and might also jeopardize their chances of holding the House next November.) At some point, principle must give way to practicality, and now is that time for Republicans.

Of course I agree, but I still find it passing strange that McConnell is now viewed as some kind of moderate realist. I’m a little tired of bestowing the laurels of moderation on all those who only actually worked toward sanity in the very last hours before default. Many appeased insanity until that very point, which, given the economic catastrophe over the horizon, is not moderation at all.

The GOP is full of cowards – congressmen scared of primaries, leaders scared of Ted Cruz, everyone scared of Rush Limbaugh. It’s a party riven by fear, exploiting fear, and creating fear.

And McConnell is absolutely a part of that. Which is perhaps why Pareene supports the Tea Party’s efforts to oust McConnell – to heighten the contradictions and bring on the nadir we need:

The campaign to take down Mitch McConnell is insane, from a conservative perspective. McConnell is the single most effective legislator Republicans have, and he’s used his power to advance the interests of the conservative movement. … All McConnell has done is undermine and block Obama’s agenda with ruthless efficiency for five years. And he’s done so without becoming the sort of angry laughingstock Republican that normal Americans hate (and movement conservatives love). What has Ted Cruz done? What have Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan done? Rand Paul is trying to actually be the effective version of Ted Cruz, and what has he done? So, yes, fund a primary campaign against Mitch McConnell. Definitely do this, conservatives. It will work out great. Even if Bevin beats McConnell and wins the seat, Republicans will have traded their best parliamentary weapon for another Mike Lee. Good strategy, everyone.

[Correction: In the original version of this post, I cited a quote from Mitch McConnell about Charlie Sheen from the New Yorker’s Paul Slansky’s quiz. The quote was from Rand Paul, not McConnell. The answers to the quiz were upside down and I read a b) as d). I removed the quote. Apologies for the mix-up.]

(Photo: A Mitch McConnell look-alike in Britain’s Conservative Party Conference last month. By Getty Images.)