Forget the Presidential election outcome. Anyone paying the slightest attention to Nate Silver and the 528 Blog knew how this would play out. Chris Christie punctured Mitt Romney's last victory balloon when he complimented Barack Obama for being Presidential. Show over. Check please.
Whether you approve of the results of "Campaign 2012, The Race For the White House" or not, you cannot help but be impressed/disheartened by the choices made in the Congressional races. At a time when the entire country is complaining about the Keystone Cops that make up the House and Senate (15% approval rating the last time I looked) well over 300 House members will be reelected. In the Senate it's about 60%. So why does the entire country want every Senator and Congressman replaced..except theirs? How is it that no one gets the fact that if you continue to send the same ideologues back to the Congress, you will continue to get the same gridlock? (see also "Definition of Madness")
The echos of Mitt Romney's concession speech were still rattling around that Boston convention hall when John Boehner stated that the return of a Republican majority to the House of Representatives was a clear signal that the American people do not want any tax increase. Really? That's your takeaway? Jim DeMint of South Carolina has already come out in opposition to any compromise with Democrats. An attitude like that should get you a time-out not a Senate seat. Gentlemen, the American people want compromise. They want governance. They want something, anything but what we have had for the last two years. No one is suggesting that Republicans abandon their principles but how is it that so many Congresspeople missed the class in first grade when we were told that to get something you have to give something. When did give and take become all or nothing?
Yes, it's true that isitjustme leans a bit to the left but, if you're honest about it you must admit that all the obstructionism is coming from the Right. That enormous ass-hat Richard Mourdock stated flatly in his acceptance speech as GOP candidate for Senator from Indiana that his idea of compromise was my way or no way. Thankfully Indiana was unimpressed. More about him later. Paul Ryan retained his House seat even after admitting to: 1) requesting TARP money, 2) voting for Stimulus, 3) voting for Medicare part D and, he voted for the auto industry bailout. These are not Teabagger positions and in another year might earn you a primary challenge from the far right of your party. Nevertheless, Ryan voted to serve his conscience and his party. We call that governing.
Being an elected official means representing the best interests of both your constituents and your country. Hell, the Tea Party only exists because a substantial group of Americans felt that the government no longer represented them. The problem arose when the neocons hijacked the movement and molded the argument into one about bigotry, small-mindedness and Christian fanaticism.
But I digress.
There were a few bright spots in the numbers from Tuesday. The two most disreputable Senate candidates: Todd Akin of Missouri and the aforementioned Richard Mourdock of Indiana were defeated in races that should never have been close.
Akin, a Congressman from suburban St. Louis, was running against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill. McCaskill was elected in the big Democratic sweep of 2006 but, she's a Democrat in Missouri. Just to help the GOP along, she even had a minor scandal involving a private plane and who was paying for the gas. Akin is a tea bagger neocon in a conservative state. The Republican Senate Caucus was warming a chair for Mr. Akin's expected arrival in 2013. He was a lock...until he was interviewed in August on KTVI-TV St. Louis and gave his now-famous "legitimate rape" soliloquy. McCaskill immediately stopped packing up her office and the GOP ran from Akin as if he had fallen into a septic tank. He still managed almost 40% of the vote, presumably none of those votes were from rape victims or doctors.
Richard Mourdock took a slightly different road to the nomination but managed the same moronic gaff as Mr. Akin. Mourdock had beaten the hugely popular and long serving incumbent from Indiana, Richard Lugar in a nasty primary. Mourdock was the teabagger darling who eschewed compromise and mocked Sen. Lugar as the sell-out appeaser he was. (To be fair, Lugar is 80 years old and hasn't maintained a residence in Indiana since 1977.) Indiana went for Obama in 2008 but, by and large is a fairly conservative red state. His opponent was Joe Donnelly, a Democrat in name only. Donnelly is anti-abortion, pro gun nut, anti immigrant, etc. The teabaggers must have been delirious. Anyway, Mr. Mourdock, following in the footsteps of Smilin' Todd Akin allowed that rape, if it resulted in a pregnancy, was somehow God's will. Joe Donnelly immediately ran to the nearest Catholic Church and made a novena of thanks. God's will also included the defeat of Richard Mourdock at the polls on Tuesday.
So my friends, what have we learned from this exercise in civic responsibility? Following the election of 2008 when bizarro candidates like Sharron Angle and Christine O'Donnell were sent packing by the electorate, the GOP learned exactly nothing. Candidates like Akin and Mourdock will continue to win GOP primaries and, if they can learn to govern their mouths, get elected. Nevertheless we should be grateful to the good people of Missouri and Indiana for coming to their senses and realizing that teabagger candidates are toxic. They produce only two things: fodder for the nightly news and Democratic victories. Good riddance.
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