OK, So That Didn't Go So Well...

The American people have chosen stupidity. I can't think of any other way to put it. Here in Wisconsin, Russ Feingold fell to a nitwit gigolo. How crushingly depressing. Meanwhile, the unfortunate Harry Reid practically coasts to reelection. I take comfort in the fact that the alternative to Reid was much, much worse. Where do we go from here? Nowhere. Government is now hopelessly broken.


[Sam Stein, Huffington Post:]

It was a historic session -- one of the most productive since the New Deal -- but in the end, it was brief. Four years after taking over Congress with the first female Speaker of the House of Representatives, Democrats lost control of the chamber in a devastating, wipeout election.

And as the political practitioners and election pundits take stock of what happened, perhaps the one conclusion all sides agree with is this: if government seemed stalemated and futile before, the next two years will bring new meaning to deadlocked.


Nice work, American voter. Way to screw yourself.

"There are going to be confrontations, subpoenas, demands that people testify, efforts to undermine the things the president has done," the the American Enterprise Institute's Norm Ornstein told Stein. "The question is, if you get a shutdown of the government or disruption of government, do you get the public backlash? And then, do you get Republicans reacting the way [former Speaker Newt] Gingrich did, when he and his colleagues said, 'Oops, if we want to win a second majority we have to work with the president.' If that is what [incoming GOP leader John] Boehner decides to do, does he have the clout to get his colleagues to do that? I'm skeptical."

Still, I think it's important to point out that this isn't over. It's never over. There are no decisive victories in democracy and all gains are temporary. The thing to do, from the activist perspective, is to get right back to work. I know I will. And, if Republicans are all problems and no solutions -- as pretty much everyone predicts -- it just makes it that much easier. The message from this day forward should be a combination of "we told you so" and "have Republicans fixed the economy yet?" They should own the economy now.

So keep up the good work. America has never needed you more. Russ Feingold was outspent by almost 4:1, but money was useless elsewhere. Meg Whitman failed to buy the California governorship. Carly Fiorina's cash didn't get her anywhere either. Wrestling mogul Linda McMahon likewise found that a Connecticut senate seat was not for sale. We can do this.

Fight harder, fight smarter, and know your cause is just. I know you can do this, because I've seen you do it before.

-Wisco


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