Regardless of whether the Democratic Party gains control of one or two houses in the Congress which convenes next January, the entire nation ought to be deeply ashamed tonight.
After what the Republican majority has clearly done in the last few years to destroy, perhaps permanently, both this country and the entire planet, it should be deeply embarassing to admit that a shift of a mere four or five percentage points in the distribution of party representation is all we can scrape together to show ourselves and the world that we will no longer stand for it.
Sorry to be so gloomy tonight, but I just had to say it.
As with our local elections in Antwerp recently, the extreme right party Vlaams Belang advanced by a 'mere' 0,5% in Antwerp, to about 32% of the vote. This to an outsider may seem a stunningly negative result, and that is what it is. The Sp.A however advanced with 20% to 40% giving them the majority. It seems a slight victory, but it is not. Something has changed in the minds of people (partly thanks to continuous, concerted efforts of awareness-raising by the cultural community). The door is open for something to change. I just hope that all those people elected keep their word and surpass themselves this time in working together for genuine progress. As should everyone on this planet. This is no joke. Extremities can sharpen one's wits for such things, and make clear exactly what we don't want.
But Santorum is gone! By a huge margin, that's a statement.
Referencing Mark's "that's a statement":
But the Democratic leadership is now talking about bipartisanship, about being centrists and moderates, because, we are told, that is what the constituency of what passes as our "leftist" party really wants - this is happening in a country whose national political conversation is well to the right of that within the most conservative parties in any first world nation on the planet.
I also note that same-sex marriage bans passed in every state but Arizona yesterday.
Bush and the Republican ascendancy which put him in place were incredibly crude, greedy and incompetent; a lot of very slow-witted people have finally figured that out, but there is no evidence that much of anything has changed - or will.
While I agree that it is disturbing that nearly 50% of Americans still think the GOP is doing an OK job, there is plenty of evidence that this was a progressive win. As my friend Matt Stoller says at MyDD, the House has a Democratic majority with a non-Southern base, and we have a socialist in the Senate -- Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Our Senate's rules allow a single senator to make things difficult if he or she wishes to do so.
http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/11/8/111156/179