Hello all,
Hey! Tea Party people! I have a secret for you! Ready?
You won!
No, no. I'm serious. You won, and I'm bringing this to your attention, as apparently some of you do not know that you won. Well, you did. You won big time. I'm talking HUGE! However some of you seem to be suffering a Tea Party hangover, as what I keep hearing is:
"But we didn't win the Senate!"
"But Harry Reid is still Senate majority leader!"
"But Boxer and Brown in California, O'Donnel in Delaware! Buck in Colorado!"
"But Obama didn't listen! He's said..."
Stop it. You won. You won everything you could have and more.
You own the House of Representatives, from which all tax policy and rates are born. You gained 2/3s of all available/possible seats in the Senate. You can filibuster anything. You gained more Governerships and seats in State Legislatures than have been captured at one time, ever, period.
You won. You won in a way that would get you banned for life from Vegas casinos. So why are you focusing on the few things out there you didn't win?
Let's get serious for a second.
1) We were never going to win the Senate.
We had a chance to make solid gains (and did) but the ratio of Democrat vs Republican seats up for election this cycle wasn't such that we actually had the opportunity to take it over. No chance, not even in the fevered Romneyesque imaginings of Hugh Hewitt. In 2 years it will be a different story however, as the ratio of that upcoming lot has many more vulnerable Democrats. If we have a decent showing in 2012 we will then own the Senate.
2) Harry Reid is still leader of the Senate.
Good. Let him continue to be the face of failure. He was ineffective with a filibuster proof majority, how much less effective will he be with that gone? As to him losing his seat, it was never going to happen. Nevada is all union, all the time. Harrah’s alone pulled off shenanigans for Reid that are mind boggling. Say, anyone think Eric Holder is going to jump up and investigate Harry Reid right away? Ummmm... no. The chances of beating Harry Reid were scant regardless of the talking heads on television. Would a better candidate have made a difference? Sure, but the odds would still have been worse than pulling an inside straight.
3) "Insert candidate here" didn't win.
California & Delaware are reliably blue, with 2 to 1 Democrat registrations in some areas. Those were long shots, but worth fighting for, as it forced the Democrats to spend cash they didn't have to defend them. This allowed other contests to happen without the overwhelming dollar difference that usually hurts us. I will cry no tears for Mike Castle, but O'Donnell never stood a chance. Colorado however, is a teachable moment. Jane Norton would have won walking away and was reliably conservative on most things (unlike Castle). Replacing a popular, guaranteed-win, 80% conservative with a little-known, out-of-depth, 90% conservative was almost criminally foolish. We must be more thoughtful in choosing candidates. Not everyone old is bad, and not everyone new is good -- lesson learned. We'll get it together for the next round.
4) Obama didn't get the message and plans to keep moving in the same direction.
That was expected, as his narcism would allow for nothing else, and for which you should be supremely grateful. Yes, I am serious. We own the House folks, remember? That most fertile land of subpoenas and hearings! No leftist legislation will be forthcoming from it for the next 2 years. Likewise, we can block anything in the Senate. Where is this country heading? Nowhere! Welcome to "gridlock", a blessed relief from what has gone before! Obama will find few allies and even less success, however, his arrogant attempts to continue onwards will ensure his downfall in 2012.
You won, and you won BIG. We have stopped the destruction and we can whittle away at the edges of what has been done up to now. In Act II (in 2012) we can finish the job and wipe it all away, IF you stay strong and keep the pressure on our new representatives. Can you do that? Oh, you betcha! Get to it Tea Party people, get to it.
And in the meantime, here is a little Schadenfreude for your tea.