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Because see: we have the alternate reality and then the actual reality. Here's TPM take on last night's primary elections : In Kentucky, the national Republican Party backed the wrong candidate in not one but two primaries. The Democrats managed to hold on to Rep. John Murtha's old seat in Pennsylvania. And while Sen. Arlen Specter is no longer a Republican, his defeat by Rep. Joe Sestak in the Democratic primary means the GOP nominee will face, perhaps, a much stronger opponent than the beleaguered Specter would have been. It was a rough night for the Republicans. No one suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune more than Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. His hand-picked candidate was trounced by tea partier Rand Paul in the Kentucky Senate primary. McConnell's pick, Trey Grayson, only got 35% of the vote despite his party's backing. Grayson even lost in his home county . Got that? The GOP establishment picked losers who lost. Yes, Arlen Specte...

On Hardball last night , Chris Matthews had this interesting exchange with Rick Hertzberg (senior editor and staff writer for the “New Yorker"): MATTHEWS: What do you make of Tom Ridge‘s statement that he‘s going to be looking into this. Quote—here‘s what Tom Ridge said today in a late statement. “So let‘s begin the discussion of ideas, with a respectful contest, as Pennsylvania and the nation continue to work collectively through these challenging times.” The very popular two-term governor of this state—Rick Hertzberg, get in on this. This guy‘s pro-choice. He‘s been tough on things like the MX, military waste. He‘s been very independent with people like Dick Cheney. Can he bring back the Rockefeller Republican party? HERTZBERG: Somebody is going to have to eventually. I mean, the Club for Growth is not universally popular in the Republican party. I mean, do you know what Huckabee said about the Club for Growth? This is a year ago December. I interviewed him. He called it the Cl...