Christine O’Donnell‘s victory over moderate Republican stalwart Mike Castle yesterday raises all kinds of questions. And since early last night all the obvious ones have been asked. Over and over.

So here’s the one I want to ask: in this primary season of Tea Party Davids repeatedly toppling Republican establishment Goliaths — often, as last night, by huge non-contest margins — how on earth did John McCain manage to escape the fate he oh-so-richly deserved?

I think before last night, if you asked this question, a pretty glib answer could be constructed arguing that J.D. Hayworth did too well in the polls too early. McCain saw him coming a long way off, realized that his seat might be in danger, and spent all kinds of money mounting a concerted, determined campaign to fight him off. And Hayworth, through that infamous infomercial, certainly gave McCain ample ammunition to attack him with.

But Mike Castle and the Republican establishment weren’t exactly blind-sided by Christine “masturbation equals adultery” O’Donnell. They saw her coming a long way off, too. And fought her tooth and nail.

The GOP establishment and its preferred candidate saw this coming weeks ago, and acted quickly to prevent a disaster, attacking O’Donnell, dishing dirt to reporters, and even filing an FEC complaint against her.
[...]
The chairman of the Delaware Republican Party characterized his party’s U.S. Senate nominee as “a perennial candidate unworthy of being elected dog catcher.” Even Dick Armey‘s FreedomWorks, which rallies behind right-wing fringe candidates, wanted nothing to do with her.

So how did McCain manage to escape his karma? There must be a special god who watches over totally unprincipled hypocrites.