It’s November 8, 2006.
I feel like I’ve been holding my breath for six months. I was up late last night watching the amazing election results. The voters returned the U.S. House of Representatives to the Democrats, and even the Senate might go Democratic. It is widely seen as a repudiation of Bush (and, I’ll add, the whole neocon agenda).
- 8:30 AM — Tom Delay says the Republicans will take it all back in the next election. He sneers at the electorate and predicts the first thing they will notice is a $2,000 higher tax bill.
- 9:06 AM — Rush Limbaugh opens his show quoting Nancy Pelosi: “Now we can return to civility in Washington.” Rush asks “Is this an admission that the Democrats went over the top in this campaign?”
- 9:49 AM — From KFI-AM640 (Fox radio in Los Angeles): Administration officials are saying that Donald Rumsfeld will be stepping down. Limbaugh is exasperated and sputters “Why didn’t they get rid of him last week!?”
- 10:19 AM — George Allen still won’t concede in Virginia. It’s close there, but he hasn’t had the lead for 12 hours, and 99.9% of the precincts have reported. The state will pay for a recount if the margin is less than a half of one percent, which it might be. If Tester wins in Montana (looking likely) it all comes down to Virginia, just like Florida in 2000. I expect Jim Baker and a thousand Republican lawyers will show up down there with about a billion dollars to spend, trying to save the Senate. The recount, by the way, can’t even start until the Commonwealth certifies the results on November 27, so we may be in for three or four more weeks of suspense, unless Allen gets his head out of his ass.
- 10:30 AM — Woops, I’ve been missing The Decider’s press conference. Just turned it on and he was saying he doesn’t think there’s a civil war in Iraq, and that, unlike during Vietnam, these U.S. troops are volunteers, and therefore knew what they were getting into.
- 10:39 AM — Continuing the Republican blame-the-stupid-voters theme, Bush says “I thought the people would understand the importance of security, but I was wrong.” His way of saying “I wasn’t wrong, it was the voters.”
- 11:19 AM — Tester has won in Montana. Democrats need one more state to control both house of Congress. I didn’t even allow myself to hope for this much.
- 11:20 AM — Is it just me, or does the sky seem bluer this morning, and the air fresher?
Hubba hubba. Meanwhile, why is there no one liberal enough to just KILL Rush Limbaugh? It wouldn’t be wrong.
I’m reeling. Boston has a we-can’t-believe-it, quaking, sleep-deprived vibe it last had when the Sox won the pendant two years ago.
He sneers at the electorate and predicts the first thing they will notice is a $2,000 higher tax bill.
Harrrummmphhhh! Except that it’ll be closer to $2.00 for most Americans. The only ones that will see a tax bill go up that much are the richest 1/100 of 1 percent.
On a totally different topic, the sweetest part of the night for me was seeing McCaskill beat Talent in MO. Very tasty.
You know, I had local tunnel-vision. I dared hope that Dems would get back in the MA corner office, but that was about it. But–on a national level? Holy holy sh1t
My cheeks hurt from smiling too. I’m with KStyle, I keep reading the results and saying “holy shit!”
Ron – If we just leave Rush alone, he’ll kill himself.
kStyle – The Sox won the pennant?
Kvatch – Welcome! It’s not a lie – just an improv on the truth.
kStyle – I had to look beyond my local races: Arnold and Dianne.
gnightgirl – If it’s a dream, let me sleep.
Pennant. Right.