THE WALL STREET JOURNAL argues today that, as a matter of pragmatism, conservatives should back liberal Republican Mike Castle over his rival in Delaware’s GOP primary, tea party conservative Christine O’Donnell, a candidate dismissed by the Journal as “an itinerant conservative commentator and activist who is supported by some in the tea party movement and national talk radio.” To make the point, the Journal offers yet another paraphrased reprise of William F. Buckley’s rather empty maxim urging votes for the “most conservative candidate who could win.”

That is perhaps the most widely quoted political platitude of the season, a piece of rightwing scripture routinely trotted out to keep unenlightened populists in line. It was used today – in the same editorial, no less – against another Journal target, Doug Hoffman. Hoffman was the Conservative Party congressional candidate in upstate New York whose run for office last year threw the 23rd district to the Democrats. He’s threatening to campaign on the Conservative line again. The Journal:

At some point, voters will wonder if Mr. Hoffman’s candidacy is about his principles, or his personal ambition.

So the Journal is accusing Hoffman is putting pragmatism above principle. That’s good, right?

The rambunctious, impolite tea party movement is aimed primarily at Republicans (especially of the congressional ilk, according to this poll), not Democrats, and it’s no doubt true that if O’Donnell defeats Castle in the GOP primary, the Democrats will win that senate race in November. Not everyone is a tea party kind of guy, including us, but some of us are now old enough to find comfort in their counter-cultural obstinacy. Maybe they should paint red fists on the backs of their golf sweaters and occupy the Secretary of Education’s office until the government cuts back on ketchup in school lunches. (But they need their own Country Joe and a newspaper they can sell at head shops. Do they still have head shops? Hello? Do they still have newspapers?)

The tea party is a lower-GOP phenomenon, something that smells suspiciously more like roots than grass, however. In the end, it appears the “political dilemma” posed by these populists can only be solved by Journal editorialists and other Upper Republicans in one of two ways. As a matter of principle, the GOP might try to be more pragmatic in dealing with them – maybe even debating the issues they raise, help them shape strategy and try to get them to make a little less mess in these races. Or they can just dismiss them as being unwashed and unprincipled (or is it over-principled?). But so far, easy condescension doesn’t seem to be the pragmatic solution.

– Calamo