What a difference a day makes.
Karl Rove, “the architect” as he is dubbed, designed the worst election defeat for the GOP in a long time—possibly ever. For the first time in American history, one party lost none of the seats it was defending in either the House of Representatives or the Senate. The Democrats didn’t even lose a single governorship. It looks like they hit the electoral trifecta this year.
George W. Bush, the leader of a party controlling both houses of Congress on Tuesday morning, woke up on Wednesday as the lamest of ducks. “The Decider” suddenly started speaking the language of “bipartisanship.”
For one day, anyway. On Thursday, he had lunch with Nancy Pelosi, the all-but-elected new Speaker of the House and talked about how important it was to work together. Seven minutes after she left the Oval Office, the President sent back to the Senate the nomination of John Bolton for a fourth try. I think this “bipartisanship” thing is going to take some work on his part.
Talk radio has already started making excuses for the GOP. Here’s one alibi I wouldn’t have believed if I hadn’t heard it with my own ears: Rush Limbaugh proclaimed the reason for the loss was that the Republican Congress had taken the country too far left.
The Democrats, who were portrayed as dangerously liberal on Tuesday morning, were painted as Democrats who could only win by running as “conservative” candidates by Wednesday night. Senator-elect Jon Tester of Montana seems to be the poster boy for this line of reasoning. Contrary to this argument, his declared positions include supporting renewable and alternative energy, raising Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, being pro-choice, raising the minimum wage, repealing the Patriot Act, supporting stem cell research, and changing Medicare Part D to allow the government to negotiate pricing with drug companies. Somehow he’s supposed to be much more conservative than the average Democrat? It simply doesn’t make sense.
Such distortions are what the demagogues on the political right need in order to pretend the Democrats are somehow not like “normal people.” But for at least one day, the Republican lies didn’t work. The people recognized that the real extremists, those who have damaged our Constitutional rights, added $2 trillion (and counting) to the national debt, and waged a disastrous war, are those in the Republican Party.
It was just one day, but Election Day was a start.
Editor’s Note: “The Elephant’s Peanut Gallery” and “Straight from the Ass’s Mouth” run biweekly and are opinion columns granted by the Editorial Board to the College Republicans and the College Democrats.
