Remember that climactic scene in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," when Arnold Schwarzenegger as the good Terminator ends up in that steel plant, sprays the bad T-1000 with liquid nitrogen, freezes him solid then shatters him into tiny bits? Ahhh, we think: that's the end of the evil bad guy.
But noooooo.
And thus we have a metaphor for the Republican Party at this moment in history.
Follow me below the Mobius strip as I play out my theory...
In the film, heat from that steel plant revives the little bits of frozen T-1000 terminator and melts them into what looks like little pools of mercury. They tingle and quiver, then slowly find each other through some mysterious gravitational attraction, and within seconds the fully reconstituted bad-ass villain is whole again, ready for mayhem.
Right now the Republicans are going through a brief moment of wound-licking. To some of us, this act resembles reflection or self-assessment. It is not. They are not reconsidering their beliefs, political views or philosophy; merely tactics.
They will emerge from this not a more moderate party, but a cleverer one. Republicans have discipline and a remarkable ability to adapt -- or at least they have in the past. I believe they will find a way around the Democrats' resurgence, use the assets they have and come back unnervingly strong.
Not that I want this -- as my nom de Kos suggests, I despise them and all they stand for. But they never give up and they never give in. Ever. They still have a powerful grip on government, holding the House and, arguably, the SCOTUS; and in their universe, the Tea Party tail wags the "moderate" dog, and will until they end up in a vat of molten steel, like the T-1000.
All I'm saying is this: we have not vanquished them, and all this feel-good talk of "demographics are destiny" should not put us off the task of outflanking them every day and in every way possible.
Because sooner then we would like, McConnell, Boehner and Limbaugh will be saying loud and strong, "I'll be back!"