Maybe about as expected overall, but a very good night, with some disappointments in the Senate, but a possibly historic (see Nate Silver, the electoral guru) result in the House, and big gains in Governorships, and state legislatures. A genuine political star in Rubio, and an interesting trio of Rubio, Allen West, and Nikki Haley. And speaking of the new Governor of South Carolina, a pretty good night for Sarah Palin too -- kind of amazing to see how, just a couple of years after a big defeat as a running mate to John McCain, she's now a national political force in her own right, while McCain's just back to being a Senator. The Tea Party in general had mixed results -- and needs to draw some lessons from that -- but I actually think McConnell was right to say that it's changed the Republican Party for good. More interesting, perhaps, has been it's impact on the Democratic Party, scaring a good many into repudiating their own left wing, and defeating many others who tried to buck that tide.
So, after a couple of setbacks starting in 2006, another substantial swing to the neo-progressive right -- now on to 2012.
the neo-progressive right --
ReplyDeleteHeh heh. John McCain and Sarah P, neo-progressives. Neo-prog-con! No, morfi, it's the same ol,' same ol' --really, the rise of the TP doesn't look that different than Reagan-era moralists and supply-siders, but with the marketing run by Foxnews, instead of...whoever ran it 30 years ago--featuring the usual populist schtick that the GOP (and TP) will be helping the little guy (at least ...whitey), when in reality they're every bit as corporate and finance driven as Demos (not to say with more juice with the military, and Big Oil, and plenty of racist undertones (eg, Rush's or O'reilly's every broadcast). We'll see what Rubio does when they unearth his connections to the big FL medicare scam as well.
Yeah, when you're stuck with a lot of Marxist left-overs, it must seem like everything is the same 'ol. But not true -- see this.
ReplyDeleteOne merely says "Marx" and you've gone Bircher, morf (tho..what was that Marxist bon mot--history as tragedy, then...farce, thereafter, more or less). Anyway the TP's ex-wicca star McConnell lost , as did Sharie "SS" Angle. The TP/GOP picked up some seats in the "fly-over" area, but couldn't take the Senate (and the election reveals again the weirdness of the electoral college). It's significant, but not a mandate, except to WASPs.
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