Comment at http://wizbangblog.com - I thought it was insightful and poignant.
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By any (rational) measure, this was the best night the Republican party has had since it was founded. Yes, even better than when Republicans took the house and the Senate on the same night. (Though that one was more fun on a visceral level.)
Consider the following:
With 97% of the popular vote reporting:
George W. Bush 51% 57,813,650
John Kerry 48% 54,011,435
George Bush won the popular vote by almost 4 million votes, earning over 50%, something no President has done since 1988, even Clinton never broke 50%.
By the time John Kerry concedes, Bush will have won the Electoral College 286 to 252.
While the Dems loudly projected they would take back the Senate, as of 4:36AM it looks like the Republicans will pick up 4 or possibly 5 seats. Bringing them to a near filibuster busting 55 votes.
In the House, the last number I saw was the Republicans gained 4 seats.
The Republicans also picked up another Governor for good measure.
In closely watched seats, Frost lost in Texas, Tom Daschle is dead and to show what a groundswell election this was, in Louisiana they have their FIRST Republican Senator EVER. (not in 100 years-- EVER) Facing 4 Dem challengers, the Republican challenger still got 51% of the vote.
In short, it was the Democrats' worst nightmare. Add the Supreme Court into the mix and Dr. Kovorkian's pager must be going off continuously.
After 4 years of the Dems crying "never again" and building every bit of infrastructure they could muster, why did they lose so horrifically? The exit polls, which are not designed to predict winners but learn voter motivation, tell us it was issues of morality that swung the vote.
Sure gay marriage bans were on the ballot in many states, but it was more than that. We have, in the Democrats, a failed party. A party more concerned with the acquisition of power than governance. A party whose motto is "win at all costs" and has shown a willingness to do just that.
In the last few years to say the Democrats have broken all bounds of civility and decency would be an understatement. They've played politics with national security and made slanderous charges against the President during a time of war.
They've shot up, broken into and vandalized GOP offices. Kicked people who wore GOP t-shirts and slashed tires of GOP vans. And that was just in the last 48 hours.
They have increasingly lost touch with the needs of the average voter and have been co-opted by the radical left. Where once the Democrats stood for the common man, now they stand against all his values.
But the electoral nightmare is not over for the Democrats. They predicted a large turnout would help them, but instead the good honest people who were disgusted by their behavior turned out in even bigger numbers and learned that they are indeed part of the silent majority. These people now got a vivid reminder that they are the majority and their vote counts. A lesson that won't soon be forgotten.
Is the Democrat party irreparable? Not by a long shot. They could turn it around in one election cycle.
Quit lying to the American people. Get a coherent foreign policy and plan for terrorism. Drop the class warfare and the victimology and appeal to what is best in America and not it's worst.
Don't bring the full force of law against someone who has the temerity to say the word God. Work to build poor people up rather than tear the middle-class down. Quit cheering for our enemy while we are at war. Admit the terrorists are responsible for terrorism and that we didn't "bring it upon ourselves."
Basically, quit being jackasses and the American people will support you.
--
By any (rational) measure, this was the best night the Republican party has had since it was founded. Yes, even better than when Republicans took the house and the Senate on the same night. (Though that one was more fun on a visceral level.)
Consider the following:
With 97% of the popular vote reporting:
George W. Bush 51% 57,813,650
John Kerry 48% 54,011,435
George Bush won the popular vote by almost 4 million votes, earning over 50%, something no President has done since 1988, even Clinton never broke 50%.
By the time John Kerry concedes, Bush will have won the Electoral College 286 to 252.
While the Dems loudly projected they would take back the Senate, as of 4:36AM it looks like the Republicans will pick up 4 or possibly 5 seats. Bringing them to a near filibuster busting 55 votes.
In the House, the last number I saw was the Republicans gained 4 seats.
The Republicans also picked up another Governor for good measure.
In closely watched seats, Frost lost in Texas, Tom Daschle is dead and to show what a groundswell election this was, in Louisiana they have their FIRST Republican Senator EVER. (not in 100 years-- EVER) Facing 4 Dem challengers, the Republican challenger still got 51% of the vote.
In short, it was the Democrats' worst nightmare. Add the Supreme Court into the mix and Dr. Kovorkian's pager must be going off continuously.
After 4 years of the Dems crying "never again" and building every bit of infrastructure they could muster, why did they lose so horrifically? The exit polls, which are not designed to predict winners but learn voter motivation, tell us it was issues of morality that swung the vote.
Sure gay marriage bans were on the ballot in many states, but it was more than that. We have, in the Democrats, a failed party. A party more concerned with the acquisition of power than governance. A party whose motto is "win at all costs" and has shown a willingness to do just that.
In the last few years to say the Democrats have broken all bounds of civility and decency would be an understatement. They've played politics with national security and made slanderous charges against the President during a time of war.
They've shot up, broken into and vandalized GOP offices. Kicked people who wore GOP t-shirts and slashed tires of GOP vans. And that was just in the last 48 hours.
They have increasingly lost touch with the needs of the average voter and have been co-opted by the radical left. Where once the Democrats stood for the common man, now they stand against all his values.
But the electoral nightmare is not over for the Democrats. They predicted a large turnout would help them, but instead the good honest people who were disgusted by their behavior turned out in even bigger numbers and learned that they are indeed part of the silent majority. These people now got a vivid reminder that they are the majority and their vote counts. A lesson that won't soon be forgotten.
Is the Democrat party irreparable? Not by a long shot. They could turn it around in one election cycle.
Quit lying to the American people. Get a coherent foreign policy and plan for terrorism. Drop the class warfare and the victimology and appeal to what is best in America and not it's worst.
Don't bring the full force of law against someone who has the temerity to say the word God. Work to build poor people up rather than tear the middle-class down. Quit cheering for our enemy while we are at war. Admit the terrorists are responsible for terrorism and that we didn't "bring it upon ourselves."
Basically, quit being jackasses and the American people will support you.
