Thoughts on the Republican wipeout.

For those more inclined to grieve this morning (I'm not one of them):

First thought--Bush is faced with the "Republicans lose in 1864" scenario that Lincoln faced. Lincoln's plan was to try to win the war in the time he had before he left office in March 1865. Bush has two years to do the same thing. He'd better come up with something resembling a strategy to do so. It would have been nice if he'd had one in 2003, but...

Second--defending the brand name at all costs was the response of Catholic bishops nationwide when faced with rapist priests. Bad Idea™. The Republicans did the same with respect to their corruption-tainted politicos (Delay, Ney, et. al) and bloated budgets. The electoral kick to the clockweights was well-deserved, indeed.

Third--Sure, the war loomed large in last night's vote(1). But the Democrats shouldn't fool themselves into thinking that the majority of that sentiment was for skedaddling. Exh. A, Lieberman, Joseph. Especially in those Republican districts the Democrats took last night--the sentiment there is "win." Lest we forget, two decades worth of withdrawals only emboldened our enemy to massacre us on our own soil. Lather, rinse and repeat is not what most of the voters had in mind.

Fourth--Democrats took seats in strongly Republican territory. They ran--as they had to--as fairly conservative Dems. Meaning that those newly-minted Representatives can't start acting like tantrum prone Kos-acks. Not unless they are looking forward to updating their resumes in two years. Nor will they likely be ecstatic about the prospects of reams of subpoenas churning forth. After all, that was an electoral strategy tested by the Republicans to great success during the Clinton Administration. [sarcasm off.]

Fifth--a pro-life Democrat won a high-profile race (Pennsylvania Senate). Frankly, Bob Casey Jr. has a lot of growing to do in office (his suit strikes me as awfully roomy, so to speak). And he has the difficult legacy of trying to live up to the mantle of his father, a veritable giant. Give him time--he's going to be tested quickly, and Juniors all too often don't measure up well compared to Seniors. If nothing else, the victory will make it much easier for pro-life Democrats to run--nothing succeeds like success.

Sixth--put not your trust in princes.

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(1) Though you sure couldn't tell that from the ad campaigns for the Michigan Senate seat. Near as I can figure, the biggest international problem facing our country is Canadian trash being dumped at Michigan landfills. Still, I can't deny that Debbie Stabenow has a convincing mandate to put an end to that menace.