Republicans had a pretty darn good Election Day this year. They won a whole bunch of seats in the House, the Senate, and in the governor's races. And while there were certainly any number of incidents of voter suppression all around the country before and on Election Day(primarily towards minorities and other areas that tend to run Democratic, I might add), I have yet to see one losing Democrat or liberal pundit on TV saying that Republicans who won somehow "stole" that election.
Here in South Florida, we just got whacked with the Trifecta of Crazy and Corruption that is now our new Governor, Senator, and Congressman (Allen West). Yet while Democrats certainly aren't happy about it, we also aren't whingeing to anyone who will listen that OMG, NO FAIR, YOU DASTARDLY REPUBLICANS MUST HAVE STOLEN THAT ELECTION!
I admit, after Tuesday night, I have been one of those who have needed to be "talked off the ledge", but I have overcome that to realize that Republicans now actually have to put up or shut up. My feeling is that we will quickly see the smoke and mirrors that were used so much before the election disappate, and all the promises made by Republicans to cut spending and make government smaller will evaporate right along with it.
The phrase that applies most here is, "Elections have consequences". In the case of the Republicans, they won more than they lost, but apparently that's just not good enough to stop the flailing and general poutrage. In particular, the recount that will be underway shortly in the election for Minnesota's governor, and the rather absurdly based partisan attacks against their just newly-reelected Secretary of State
Up in Alaska, even though Scott McAdams is now out of the race, Joe Miller continues to generate some serious champion-style whining while the counting of Lisa Murkowski's write-in votes gets underway. It will be interesting to see exactly how far Sore Loser Joe intends to continue to flail after the vote count is done....my guess is he won't actually concede at all.
In the President's words, yep it was a shellacking, but it seems to me that the Dems are getting past it, and getting back to work. Some Republicans, however, seem to not know what it is to lose with grace, and move on.
Yep, elections have consequences, and unfortunately I'm getting a sinking feeling just from the news over the last 48 hours. Newly elected Republicans are already ditching promises to make cutting the defecit or eliminating earmarks a priority, already gutting programs that would add jobs to the economy, and already threatening to do everything they can to make Obama a one-term President rather than getting Americans back to work as the top of their to-do list.
Elections do have consequences, and everyone who thought it was such a neat idea to vote Republicans in to office this time around really should pay attention and see how they are going to start dragging us back down again. I have a feeling that the buyer's remorse on the part of Republican and Tea Party voters is going to be palpable in the coming weeks and months, because there's another saying that I think is relevant. You get what you pay for. Which in the case of Republicans is all too true to be comfortable.