the GOP does have a problem: governing. That was apparent during the George W. Bush administration; the years of Republican rule of Congress during the Clinton and Bush presidencies; and in the House of Representatives over the last two years. It’s not shrillness and extreme language that’s the problem; it’s shrill and extreme actions, from impeachment to the Iraq War to Boehner-era brinkmanship.

It’s an attitude that compromise is inherently unprincipled. It’s constant self-destructive paranoia about fringe nomination challenges (and self-destructive encouragement of fringe primary challenges) rather than healthy paranoia about general-election defeat. And, more than anything, it’s a failure to take governing and public policy seriously.