The Great Winds of Change in America

Just in case anyone wishes to take a look at what the elections spell for issues on a national stage, consider this: No Democrat seeking re-election for the House, Senate, or Governorship lost their race. None. Democrats took control of the House and are currently positioned to take control of the Senate (both independents would caucus with the Democrats to give the Democrats a 51-49 majority). If this fails to register as a wake-up call for Republicans, perhaps nothing will. After a stolen presidential election in '00 and a dubious-at-best election in '04, the chickens are coming home to roost. The number one issue voters claim as the reason to vote the way they did: corruption. Last time around it was "values", but both sides claimed that term even as it was being snatched up by Republicans as their own. Now we see republicans voting for democrats and saying that the corruption must end. To be honest, corruption can be found on both sides, but to maintain that honesty would be to admit that it's been found in the Republican party in spades lately.

It should come as no surprise that George Bush refused to speculate on a Democratic win tonight. He claimed to believe that Republicans would hold both the House and the Senate, no questions asked. When pressed to comment on any plans he had just in case the Democrats won one or both portions of Congress, Bush refused, insisting that he knew a Democratic shift just wasn't going to happen. Just like he knew the mission was accomplished back in '03, that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11, and that we'd be greeted by a rose-petal parade in Iraq and Afghanistan. Funny how that works.