Posted on 11/09/2006 6:09:52 AM PST by indcons
Conservative commentators were bloodied but unbowed Wednesday.
After a day in which Republicans lost their grip on the House and before Democrats were declared winners of the Senate, too, some of the right's most prominent voices found little cause for discouragement.
"Democrats, in my mind, don't have a mandate because they stood for nothing," radio host Laura Ingraham told her listeners Wednesday.
"Republicans lost last night, but conservatism did not," Rush Limbaugh said on the 600 stations that carry his program. "The Democrats beat something last night with nothing. They advanced no agenda, other than their usual anti-war position."
Two distinct camps quickly emerged among the columnists, talkers and bloggers who spent much of the past six years defending the administration. One carried an air of defiance, the other a mood of resignation that what President Bush on Wednesday called an electoral "thumping" was perhaps deserved.
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
And some are glumly defiant while others are defiantly glum.
Colbert was absolutely hilarious last night. Anyone see it? He busted up a blue donkey pinata with a baseball bat. Then he starts throwing his papers around, and silently lamenting everything with different mock gestures during the word. Hilarious.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
I cannot help but admit that when I heard Rush Limbaugh utter the words “I’m relieved….” on his show yesterday, it struck an undeniable chord deep within me. Because, although I didn’t want to admit it, I’m relieved, too.
I’m relieved in the way I would be when a sick patient finally succumbs to his disease after years of fighting, but has progressively grown weaker and weaker, in constant pain and under constant assault from the cause of his torment. That patient was, of course, the Republican Party under George Bush.
Who among us cannot admit that the Republicans have been reeling for years? They’ve been ineffective in Congress; at times exasperating; always perplexing. I trace the first large chink in the wall to late December 2002, when Trent Lott was hounded from his leadership position on ridiculous and overblown charges, and the Republican–controlled Congress allowed it to happen. That was the first stirring in my mind that something was wrong.
The lowlights of the party come to mind in a fast and furious way. In no particular order:
1) The passage and signing of McCain-Feingold;
2) The Meiers nomination;
3) The curious inattention to the border problem, with our national security at stake. Who among us would not have started building a fence on 9/12/01?
4) The continued immigration of large numbers of young Arab males;
5) This country’s continued, and highly exasperating, dependence on foreign oil;
6) The continued kowtowing to the minority party on matters of foreign policy, including, but not limited to, the abandonment of the Bush doctrine;
7) The Administration’s timidity in the Gulf region following the fall of Hussein;
8) The Administration’s timidity in defending itself on the matter of WMD;
9) The Administration’s timidity in holding Syria and Iran accountable for the foreign murderers that enter Iraq across their borders – and the accompanying habit of drawing a line in the sand, then another line, then another line…
There are more, I’m sure. In the cold light of the morning after the election disaster, a rainy day in New York, I realized how much I’ve been deluding myself about the Bush Presidency and Republican Congressional leadership. I realize how often I’ve scratched my head and said to myself, “Why aren’t we….?” or, “Why don’t we….?” or “Why doesn’t he….?”
Well it’s over now – the patient has succumbed. The shame is that he could have survived and become healthy, if only he had battled against the diseases aligned against him. After all, we were all pulling mightily for him, but in the end, he had no fight.
Christians need to remember when we are weak God is strong.
Teh results on ballot propositions show that, for teh most part, this is still a conservative country.
Many of the Democrats were elected by running far to the right of their party and in some cases, to the right of their Republican opponents.
By an 11-point margin, a majority of voters believed that the party of Big Government is the Republican Party.
And then there were the scandals: the Abramoff scandal and the Foley scandal. Clean government is a conservative principle, not a liberal one.
So all in all, there was much for conservaties to be encouraged about in these elections. In some ways, the voters thought they wre voting conservative.
5) This country’s continued, and highly exasperating, dependence on foreign oil;
Where will Israel be, when we have no reason to be concerned about the Middle East?
Are you going to fight the democrats or are you going to gang up with them to fight our President in times of war.
You're right. It is interesting to see a wide range of emotions on display on FR (and understandably so).
People voted Dem over Republican 31.5-25 million. That was a stunning margin.
That's the spirit. Ride toward the sound of the guns.
Regards, Ivan
I choose defiance.
Perhaps true, but I have yet to see a single story or post displaying the kind of apocalyptic "derangement syndrome" that the Democrats massively displayed after their loss of the last presidential election.
The Republicans lost like adults, the Democrats like the spoiled brats they are.
If you are right, and as you imply, Israel's existence is directly connected to our dependence upon Arab oil, God will have no mercy on our souls.
I don't believe this is the case.
I feel liberated also.
Unfortutely, we are done for a long time.
40 more years in the desert.
The media will report that the ecomomy is good,
people are happy and the sheeple will belive it.
Am I going to fight the democrats? Damn right I am.
But I will not delude myself - I will fight them with others, like you, who want to fight - and if the President stands next to us, fine.
If he lags behind, so be it. He was strong once, and for that he deserves our allegiance. I want him to be strong again.
Great post. You nailed it.
Two years of Nancy Pelosi, John Conyers, and Harry Reid will make "buyers' regret" the theme in 2008.
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