NBC's Williams: Defeat of 'Old-School Moderate' Lugar 'Ending the Era of Centrist Republicans'

Joining the rest of the media in mourning the primary defeat of Republican Indiana Senator Richard Lugar on Tuesday, on Wednesday's NBC Nightly News, anchor Brian Williams praised the "old-school moderate" who "was attacked for working to compromise with the White House" and lamented: "His defeat comes close to ending the era of centrist Republicans in the Senate."

Williams reported on Lugar being "trounced in the Indiana Republican primary last night by Tea Party-backed opponent Richard Murdoch" and touted the 80-year-old Senator's bitter farewell: "[He] unleashed a 1,400-word document examining these hyper-partisan times. He blamed outside groups that spent millions on ads against them saying their, quote, 'prime mission is to cleanse the Republican Party of those who stray from orthodoxy as they see it.'"

Here is a transcript of Williams' May 9 report:

7:07 p.m.

BRIAN WILLIAMS: Richard Lugar, one of the longest serving senators in this country, was trounced in the Indiana Republican primary last night by Tea Party-backed opponent Richard Murdoch. After conceding defeat, the old-school moderate unleashed a 1,400-word document examining these hyper-partisan times. He blamed outside groups that spent millions on ads against them saying their, quote, "prime mission is to cleanse the Republican Party of those who stray from orthodoxy as they see it." Luger is a powerful voice in foreign policy, was attacked for working to compromise with the White House. His defeat comes close to ending the era of centrist Republicans in the Senate.