Last night’s election results have the Democratic spin doctors frantically checking their charts for bright lights and smiling pixies. I suspect that their midnight meetings will result in two related spins. I also suspect that these spins will be less truth and more forlorn hope.

Monday night’s Nightline on ABC ran a story on Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks. Some of the nuggets offered in the narrative were the organization’s “campaign to purge moderates from the Republican Party” and reflections on The Tea Party DC protest that “it was predominantly attended by white people” and a couple of pictures of the worse of the Obama signs. Spin number one, already in place and actively gyrating, is that Right Wing Purity is what this movement is all about and independents will see that and run, screaming … eventually. Expect to see the words “intolerant” and “fringe” used like crack in a Bedford-Stuyvesant den.

Spin number two will naturally fall off of spin number one, that being the upcoming “civil war” within the Republican Party between the sensible, almost likable K Street bunch and DIABLO’s and those Cah-Raizzy fringe Tea Baggers with Palin puppet heads. The narrative will be filled with Ginormous Tents and Big Houses and not a word about trailer parks. Republicans will eat their own, vomit them up on moderates and, again, send them screaming into the statist arms of fuzzy, friendly Democrats.

All of it is a big willful pile of projecting, ignorant crap.

Allahpundit has it exactly right. The smartest, savviest and most principled (no guffaws, please) Republicans (and, I have to admit, that includes Palin at this point) are going to beat the biggest political bass drum we’ve seen in quite sometime:

…the reason grassroots conservatives are animated about Hoffman is because he represents a return to fiscal conservatism. The big problem with Scozzafava is that she wasn’t socially or fiscally conservative, which is why all of us could credibly argue that she was no better than the Democrat. Many moderate Republicans are fiscally conservative, though; to the extent that a Hoffman win reorients the GOP towards a fiscal litmus test rather than a social one, it’ll actually end up expanding the tent by creating room for libertarian types who adamantly oppose expanding government while, for example, supporting civil unions or gay marriage.

That’s why independents flocked to Christie and the Virginia Republican. The principles that supposedly defined the Republican Party still resonate across the party! We’ve left behind (hopefully) the concept of “compassionate conservatism,” which was never more than a Democratic induced guilt trip, and stand at the brink of actually luring moderates to Conservatism/Classical Liberalism by defining the key issues in budgetary, governmental roles and individual liberty terms. That was the essential message of the Tea Party protests. COME ON DOWN! IT MAY BE SCARY BUT YOU KNOW YOU SHOULD!

Once we all quit making faux litmus tests from abortion, Gay Marriage (to a lesser extent,) civility and religion, we free ourselves to raise the flag for budgetary sanity, lower taxes, limited government, strong, pro-active defense and individual liberty. Those upcoming 2010 Republican primaries are the perfect place to hold candidates accountable for fidelity to those core principles. The rest will be Olberman spittle.

Jump on board and enjoy the ride the scary ride.

(cross posted from PW comments)