News analysis pieces looking at the battles going on within the Republican Party always do so within a restricted logical space. Notice the failure of imagination in this NYT story comparing Rand Paul and Ted Cruz:
The divergent strategies undertaken by Mr. Cruz and Mr. Paul not only put them on a collision course should they both pursue presidential candidacies. They also could help determine whether the Tea Party — right now a muscular and rebellious force within the Republican Party — remains at war with the establishment or is eventually more smoothly integrated into the party apparatus.
The obvious third possibility--that the "civil war" between establishment and Tea Party Republicans ends up destroying both sides--somehow goes unconsidered.