The Senate Republicans are so upset with Lisa Murkowski for losing her primary then running as a write-in candidate that they have kept her on as ranking member of the Energy Committee.Yes, you read that right. Murkowski will now cause the GOP to spend resources in Alaska they otherwise would not have to and the Senate GOP is repaying her by leaving her as the ranking Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee — a position she uses to tout her superiority to the Republican Senate nominee in Alaska.These people do not get it.Compare these lines from the exact same story.First this one:

Senate Republicans, angered by Murkowski’s decision to run for re-election as a write-in candidate after losing the Republican primary, met behind closed doors to consider demoting her from her post as top Republican on the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, a prized perch for her resource-rich state.

Now this one:

Republicans decided not to add insult to her injury at the hands of Joe Miller, the tea party-backed candidate who beat her in the primary.

To bring it all home for us, we find the next great target to take out, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Senate Club):

“We all respect the system, and she still is a Republican senator,’’ said Sen. Orrin Hatch (R., Utah.) after the closed party caucus. “It’s just a matter of good taste. We decided to keep the status quo as long as she’s a senator.’’

I so glad Orrin has such good taste compared to Ms. Murkowski who is bitterly clinging to power the way Obama thinks Tea Partiers cling to their guns.Time to train our sights on Orrin for a 2012 defeat. The Senate GOP will learn even if we have to defeat them all.Hatch, Hutchison, Corker and the other wayward Senators up for election in 2012 better watch their ballots.