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I just finished watching Karl Rove trashing GOP Senate primary winner Christine O’Donnell. It was on Sean Hannity’s FNC show. Might as well have been Olbermann on MSNBC. The establishment Beltway strategist couldn’t even bother with an obligatory word of congratulations for O’Donnell. He criticized her “character” and “rectitude” and claimed she hadn’t answered questions about her financial woes. She did so here. Rove mocked her security concerns as “nutty.” Yet, her concerns have been more than justified. See here (second video clip).

Rove came across as an effete sore loser instead of the supposedly brilliant and grounded GOP strategist that he’s supposed to be. Expect more Washington Republicans to start sounding like Tea Party-bashing libs as their entrenched incumbent friends go down. (Hot Air has the Rove/Hannity video.)

At O’Donnell’s victory speech, she invited a 9/12 patriot to speak. He sent a special message right back to Rove, recounting how Rove had met with Delaware 9/12-ers and Tea Party folks to try and convince them to back the “more electable” candidate. “No one is going to tell us how to take care of business,” the 9/12-er said he told Rove. And now, he observed, the “more electable” candidate Rove wanted them to vote for has been…unelected.

The Freedomist reports more details of the meeting:

Rove Tried to Cut a Deal For Castle With Tea Party- Teaparty News- The Collier Brothers Sources at the Christine O’Donnell victory party revealed to The Freedomist that in December of last year Karl Rove met with Tea Party leaders in Dover, Delaware trying to get them to cut a “deal” in which they would leave Mike Castle alone and NOT support O’Donnell. The Freedomist has also learned that Rove was allegedly acting as an operative, although in what capacity it is not known, even as he is playing the role of a political analyst on Fox New in a fair and balanced way.

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Video via The Right Scoop:

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Ace of Spades: Five Reasons O’Donnell Could Win

The NRSC cuts and runs, refusing to fund O’Donnell in the general. Way to motivate the base!

Doc Zero: “Really, NRSC? Quietly diverting money out of DE would be one thing, but openly announcing it NOW?”

Friendly public service reminder: You can donate to GOP Sen. Jim DeMint’s Senate Conservatives Fund PAC right here right now.

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Surprise, surprise: Castle refuses to back O’Donnell. What else would you expect from a Soros Republican?

Via The Hill:

A Rep. Mike Castle (R-Del.) campaign source confirmed to The Hill late Tuesday that the longtime congressman will not be endorsing Christine O’Donnell.

This hits the nail on the head from Ian at C4P:

It’s pretty simple: when the shoe is on the other foot and the more moderate candidate defeats the more conservative candidate in the primary, what always happens is that the more conservative candidate gets behind the more moderate candidate. It’s time for moderates to act in defeat the same way conservatives act in defeat and that is to support the winner.

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Stacy McCain has a campaign HQ interview with O’Donnell and a round-up of related links, plus an AmSpec post-mortem here.

Ed Morrissey to the GOP establishment: Quit yer whining.

The Right Scoop has video of O’Donnell on GMA with George Stephanopoulos blasting Rove.

Update: The NRSC flip-flops. After a morning’s worth of flogging from the base, Sen. John Cornyn announces that O’Donnell’s campaign will receive the full NRSC monetary donation of $42,000.

Heckuva job, Beltway boyz.

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12:15pm Eastern Rush Limbaugh weighs in. “I never heard Karl Rove as mad at a Democrat as he was at Christine O’Donnell last night.”

More Rush: “If 51 seats is so important, let’s go balls to the wall” for O’Donnell.