Why He Had to Go

Incumbent Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) has served honorably in the nation's capital, lo these many years, both his state and his country.  But if it wasn't already clear that he had overstayed his welcome, the release of this statement after losing Indiana's Republican primary to Richard Mourdock surely made it so:

If Mr. Mourdock is elected, I want him to be a good Senator. But that will require him to revise his stated goal of bringing more partisanship to Washington. He and I share many positions, but his embrace of an unrelenting partisan mindset is irreconcilable with my philosophy of governance and my experience of what brings results for Hoosiers in the Senate. In effect, what he has promised in this campaign is reflexive votes for a rejectionist orthodoxy and rigid opposition to the actions and proposals of the other party. His answer to the inevitable roadblocks he will encounter in Congress is merely to campaign for more Republicans who embrace the same partisan outlook. He has pledged his support to groups whose prime mission is to cleanse the Republican party of those who stray from orthodoxy as they see it. (my italics)

As both parties become increasingly ideological in definition and increasingly partisan in, um, mindset, the nation is driven exactly where it should be driven, that is, to a watershed moment.  Quite simply, someone, or more importantly, something has to give.