COD, Angle, Buck, and McMahon served their purpose. They defeated the establishment prick who would have blurred the lines and created low conservative voter turnout and depressed Republican candidates in down-ticket races. Without them on the ticket, most of those Congressional Republicans and in state legislature races would have likely lost. They offered voters a clear choice in the general, and voters went with the socialists. That's what we want - we want to liberal Democrat to be responsible for any mess that happens, not the liberal Republican.
VERY good points.