DAWNING OF A BRAND NEW DAY

And here I thought Tuesday night/Wednesday morning was the be all and end all of great political nights. Then I woke up Wednesday morning. Here's how my day went...

I woke up from a couple hours of zzzz's after a seven hour live blogging session the night before. My wife, who had gone to bed at around 9pm had no idea of any of the results. She asked me how things went and I was able to tell her with much pride that the Democrats had regained control of the House.

A few hours later and I'm on the road, flipping through various talk radio channels waiting for Bush's press conference. I stop by Laura Ingraham and it honestly sounded like she was in a bit of denial in that the reality of her situation hadn't really dawned on her. What I found curious about her comments (and others on the right) is the insistence that the GOP must reinterpret itself and get back to its roots. It's been so long that I'm really not sure what those roots are, and with this crop of criminals still in power, I do not believe they're the ones to re-embrace the core values of the Republican Party. But I digress...

I listened in on much of Bush's press conference, as I blogged about earlier. I don't have anything to add, other than to comment about one little thing. Do we call his party the Republic Party? Then why does he feel the need to refer to our party as the Democrat Party? I've heard DeLay delight in using this turn of phrase but this was the first that I'd heard Bush say it. It bugs me; really gets under my skin. Which is probably why he does it. After all, he's basically an overgrown child who just got his toys taken away for being a bad boy. His retaliation is to call us a poopoohead in order to make himself still feel in control. I'm getting a headache as we speak what with all the eyerolling I'm doing at this second. Moving on...

As I was saying, Tuesday was great, but Wednesday was shaping up to be even better as the news of Don Rumsfeld's resignation broke. This was completely out of left field for almost everyone, especially after Bush's vote of confidence and DICK Cheney's insistence that the will of the people doesn't matter in the least; full speed ahead and all that. The number of offenses committed by Rumsfeld are far too numerous for one such as me to name; I leave it to others with a more encyclopedic knowledge of such things. A big one that stayed in my head was his threat to fire anyone who dared talk about something as silly as postwar planning in Iraq. Or how about when he said, shortly after the fall of Baghdad, that the Iraqis, being free and all, were free to commit crimes because democracy is messy. Well done, genius.

As I thought the day could get no better, the news of the Montana Senate race being called for Tester brightened me up some more. I knew that Jim Webb was holding onto a decent lead in Virginia, but Tester's tally had me slightly nervous. To have the race called (though not officially certified by the Secretary of State) was a pretty big deal. Hours later, news of Webb securing Virginia's seat (though canvassing is still taking place) meant that the Dems had secured the United States Senate as well as the House. We had taken back the Congress!

Whereas I would have been fairly satisfied securing just the House, nailing down the Senate (even by the slimmest of margins) meant something very important; Bush would not be able to force through another Samuel Alito onto the Supreme Court. Granted, the Dems on the Judiciary Committee could certainly drop the ball, but it appears that any appointment to the Supreme Court made during the final two years of his presidency would more than likely be of the moderate variety.

So, here I sit, typing away and giddy as a school girl (are school girls more giddy than school boys; does anyone know the etymology of that phrase?). Two years ago, I was so sick at where the country was that I had given up on politics. I refused to read a blog or a newspaper; I rarely watched any news. I figured that it was apparent that many of the American people who had voted for Bush's second term did so out of ignorance, so I wished to live in the land of ignorance. It is bliss, or so I have heard. My exile lasted about six months; then the Terri Schiavo story captured my interest. It was the first huge mistake the Republicans had made in years. It was quickly followed up the the Dems refusal to go along with Bush's plans for social security, which showed me that while I had given up the fight, there were those who still believed and fought. Slowly, I started to reaclimate myself to the world of politics. It wasn't always pretty over the ensuing eighteen months, but the prize we now find in our hands just about made the journey worth it.

We've got a helluva lot of work to do in order to fix all that has been done to this nation. The Democratic majorities in both houses seem to have a roadmap for picking up Uncle Sam and dusting him off. Time will tell if we'll be able to set things right; Bush and his rubberstamp Congress have inflicted some serious wounds, but controlling the people's branch of government is a good place to start.