BOSTON — Lawmakers and strategists from the Republican Party’s establishment are lashing out at tea partyers and congressional conservatives whose unflinching demands triggered the 16-day partial government shutdown and sent the GOP’s popularity plunging to record lows.

The open criticism is a stark reversal from just three years ago when the GOP embraced new energy from the insurgent group to fuel a return to power in the House.

For a party in an extended identity crisis, the intensifying clash between those in its mainstream and those on its far-right wing muddies its strategy ahead of the 2014 elections.

In the view of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, House Republicans overreached during the budget impasse by believing “we have one-half of one-third of the power in Washington, therefore we have three-fourths of the ability to get things done.”

Republicans run the House, but Democrats control the Senate and the White House.