THE DEAD-ENDERS. Last weekend, as dutifully reported by Eliana Johnson of National Review, Congressnut Allen West was all defiance, telling his boob-base the Dummycrats were stealing his election:

I spent the weekend in West Palm Beach at David Horowitz’s “Restoration Weekend,” where West was a featured speaker. He told the crowd on Saturday that he considers his fight historic. “What is happening here in St. Lucie County has never really happened before,” he said, in that a conservative is standing up against fraudulent election practices.

Congressman West insisted he’s in this to win it, assuring the audience, “We will not allow an Al Franken-Norm Coleman to happen here.” In that 2008 Senate race, Norm Coleman conceded after 238 days of recounts and court challenges.

He actually hoped those big-ticket Restoration Weekend dopes would go for a battle cry of Avenge Norm Coleman! But no big checks were forthcoming, apparently, and West has shut his circus down.

So, time to play the gracious loser and move on, right? Here's how West chose to play it:

“While there are certainly still inaccuracies in the results and the actions of the St. Lucie County and Palm Beach County Supervisors of Elections rightly raise questions in my mind and for many voters, after much analysis and (Sunday’s) recount in St. Lucie County, our legal team does not believe there are enough over-counted, under-counted or fraudulent votes to change the outcome of the election,” West’s statement said...

“While a contest of the election results might have changed the vote totals, we do not have evidence that the outcome would change,” West said.

Translation: The Democrats cheated their way to a legitimate victory.

Go read it: The whole thing reeks. That West says of his opponent, Patrick Murphy, "I pray he will serve his constituents with honor and integrity, and put the interests of our nation before his own,” shows only that he can be subtler about being an asshole than the rest of his statement indicates.

As recently as the 2000 Presidential election, we could expect candidates to concede even a challenged election result with some grace and an invitation to bind up the nation's (or the district's) wounds. Hell, even Norm Coleman did better than West. I even think Carl Paladino did better.

So why did West go out like a bum? Because in his world, the Tea Party world in which the President is illegitimate and his supporters are all spongers and traitors, going out like a bum is a badge of honor. What percentage  is there for them in taking defeat, as the old saying had it, like a man? Then you're playing their game -- which makes you a RINO, a collaborator, one who cooperates in a system proven to be corrupt by the fact that it doesn't always yield the returns that you want. So turn over the tables, smash the bar -- no game you don't win is legit.

And they're only going to get worse.