When Heritage Foundation founder Ed Feulner unveiled Heritage Action in a Wall Street Journal op-ed, he called it the “new fangs for the conservative beast.” Half a decade has passed and that beast has broken its teeth.

Shocking establishment and grass-roots circles alike Tuesday afternoon, Heritage Action CEO Mike Needham announced his departure from the behemoth. The conservative street fighter will soon join the more staid offices of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as chief of staff, and his exit prompts an unavoidable and uncomfortable question: Who fears Heritage Action anymore?