O'Donnell Win Triggers Fight on the Right

Christine O'Donnell's win in Delaware last night caused a ruckus within the Republican Party. It's become a political soap opera of sorts, with some major stars cast in leading roles.

It all started last night with Karl Rove throwing O'Donnell under the establishment bus. "I’ve met her. I gotta tell you, I wasn’t frankly impressed [at] her abilities as a candidate," he told Sean Hannity:

Not to be outdone, this morning O'Donnell fired back, mocking Rove as the "so-called political guru that predicted I wasn’t going to win":

But Rove would not stand for such low blows, and went on Fox News to defend his honor. He even managed to raise questions about O'Donnell's financial history and integrity while complimenting her on the win:

And finally, Rush Limbaugh joined the fray this morning when he went on a shame-on-you rant against Rove: "If he had just gotten this mad at Democrats during the Bush administration, why who knows how things would be different today." Needless to say, Rush wasn't happy with Rove's attacks on O'Donnell:

All the infighting didn't go unnoticed by Democrats. The back-and-forth even made news during today's press briefing, with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs using the controversy to downplay O'Donnell's chances in November:

I think if you look at what people like Karl Rove or people like the state GOP chairman have said, the Republicans in Delaware nominated somebody that they don't believe can win, I think in the words of the state party chair, couldn't be elected dog catcher.

UPDATE:

So as not to overlook the entire cast of supporting characters, you should know that O'Donnell supporter Sarah Palin weighed in on Rove's comments last night too: "We love our friends there in the machine ... but my message to those who say that the GOP nominee is not electable ... [is] buck up."