In case you hadn’t noticed, the media loves nothing more than Republican infighting. The New York Times had a ball with it over the weekend, especially since the failed Battle of the Budget context provided them ample material for a good old-fashioned GOP roast.

Sunday’s NYT piece, “Fiscal Crisis Sounds the Charge in G.O.P.’s ‘Civil War,” highlights the dissonance between the “generally pro-business, center-right bloc” and the “radicalized” populist conservatives. It begins by reminding us of the Republicans’ “crushing defeat” and establishing the intraparty blame-gaming:

After the budget standoff ended in crushing defeat last week and the political damage reports began to pile up for Republicans, one longtime party leader after another stepped forward to chastise their less seasoned, Tea Party-inspired colleagues who drove the losing strategy.

Which leads us to infighting quote number one, from Sen. Orrin Hatch (supporter of the final deal):

“Let’s face it: it was not a good maneuver ... And that’s when you’ve got to have the adults running the thing.”

The NYT piece is full of zingers like that one. It's also packed with battle metaphors, describing the GOP’s “intraparty battle lines,” the “open feud” of the two “factions,” and underscoring the title quote from “conservative warrior” Richard Viguerie: “It’s civil war in the G.O.P.”

The article also brings up past GOP divisions, referencing the 1976 Ford-Reagan and the 1964 Goldwater-Rockefeller “factions.” These historical allusions actually provide conservative readers some hope. In fact, the piece makes it a point to highlight that many conservatives recognize that “both of those campaigns planted the seeds for the conservative movement’s greatest success: Reagan’s 1980 election and two terms as president.”

The article also stresses that the Tea Party is not backing down. If anything, they are redoubling their efforts:

Far from being chastened by the failure to achieve any of the concessions they had sought from President Obama — primarily to roll back his signature health care law — the conservative activists who helped drive the confrontation in Congress and helped fuel support for the 144 House Republicans who voted against ending it are now intensifying their effort to rid the party of the sort of timorous Republicans who they said doomed their effort from the start.

So, the “civil war” rages on. And the media will gleefully continue to bring us reports from the field of battle.