As if the target on his Senate seat isn't visible enough, RINO Senator Lindsey Graham apparently sought to reinforce it in hunter orange to remind conservatives just how far off the reservation he remains. In remarks made on the floor of the Senate, Graham had the temerity to suggest that Tea Party conservatives had mucked up the 2010 mid-term elections:

The House had a dramatic election. We picked up seats in the Senate...Some of us thought we could pick up two or three more, but we made some pretty poor choices when it came to candidates."

Do you think the party would have made those gains if Republicans had run candidates in the mold of Lindsey Graham?

Of course it would never occur to the man embraced by the New York Times as "This Year's Maverick" that his idea of an ideal candidate has become anathema to conservatives tired of aisle-crossing, principle-abandoning panderers to the Washington D.C. media. Even the Times glowing paean to John McCain-even-lighter acknowledges Graham's less than impressive intellect:

Big issues rattle from his brain and out of his inert, somewhat glassy-eyed face as if dispensed by a gum-ball machine.

As a public service, I offer this news flash to Senator Graham and his fellow travelers from the Gang of 14 : Sometimes the first step in reforming the errant Republican party is simply to remove the old style party hacks unable or unwilling to stick to conservative principles. This is simply addition by subtraction.

There are an additional 23 Democrat Senate seats available for pick-up in 2012 and two seats currently occupied by RINOs: Indiana's Richard Lugar and Olympia Snowe of Maine. While the Tea Party may force some "pretty poor choices" in these races, you can bet Graham's Gang of 14 cohort Snowe will be in for the fight of her life. Too bad Senator Graham is constitutionally incapable of understanding the concept of standing on principle. Unfortunately, the voters won't get a chance to teach him this lesson until 2014.

Ralph Alter is a regular contributor to American Thinker.