Perhaps in an outbreak of Chuck Hagel envy, parts of the Republican world have taken a crash course in dimness, or perhaps mutually assured self-destruction, crafting new ploys to damage their interests, in fresh and inventive new ways.

Former Bush aide Karl Rove and Republican donors form a new group, in an effort to prevent the nomination of screw-ups — some (but not all) of them under the Tea Party aegis — who have managed in the course of two cycles to cost the party four or five Senate seats. Do they take this idea to Tea Party figures and broach ways to do this? Not quite. They form the project themselves, and use the New York Times to announce it, assuring it’s framed in its favorite context; which is, disarray on the Right.