This Washington Post piece by Philip Rucker and (our old colleague) Robert Costa is well worth reading. Among the many things in it I hadn’t known is that the Republican establishment tried to get Thad Cochran to retire before primary season, which would have saved us all a lot of agita if Cochran had cooperated.

What’s getting the most attention are the on-the-record quotes from David Krone, Harry Reid’s chief of staff, blasting the Obama political operation. About those comments, a Republican Hill veteran e-mails this comment:

The fact that some of his own people dislike him is unusual but not unique. What is more amazing to me is that they are not afraid of him and feel free to trash him openly on the record while he is still in office. Apparently it is not just our enemies and folks like Putin who have no fear of him. He cannot even project fear the length of Pennsylvania Avenue. Just as in foreign affairs, such weakness leads to chaos. Machiavelli said of leaders: ”It is better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.” I imagine he would think someone who was neither is in deep trouble.