Spaghetti Farmer has offered a really spot-on comment quote: "If you don’t stand for anything, you fall for everything!" I love it. However, I'd like to offer another view. 

I have a sibling who is the head of a NGO in Washington. S/He deplores the diminishing of cross-aisle compromise and negotiation. At the same time, s/he tells me that those compromises do continue to be executed at Capitol Hill, but one can get chewed up by the party machinery if such compromises get too public. 

Ms. Murkowski (and I'm really not a fan of her) has stood up in the middle of the road. As someone who has worked in the middle of the road, I know that it's not a safe place to be. I applaud her courage. And I reserve to right to criticize her at any later date.