In the past few days it has become clear that Republicans are delusional, petty, mean spirited whiny butts. They are also poor losers. All over the place you see analysis of their heart wrenching loss. Will they wise up and expand their base or keep appealing to old white men and the women who marry them? Or will they find new vistas of intolerable and hatefulness?
Yet while we bask in their angst, liberals, progressives and Democrats need to remember their own navels.
Remember those heady, giddy days in 2008? We were unstoppable. We were invincible. Permanent Republican majority? Pah! Take that you narrow minded cretins!! And then, the Tea Party. And then... 2010. Wailing and gnashing of teeth. We don't want to go there again. So just a few thoughts in the waning afterglow:
1. Why didn't we contest House seat against obvious nuts like Paul Broun? He ran unopposed. Yes, Georgia is redder than a red, red rose, but Claire McCaskill won in Missouri. We can't let weak links go unopposed.
2. Some red states are not as red as you think. Mississippi- the poster child for Republican dominance, the racist role model for Alabama, the pride of the KKK, voted 55.5% Romney, 43.5% Obama. No, not close. But a long way from the 66.8% in Oklahoma.
3. Remember how Palin came to infest us. She started on a school board. For decades Republicans have had very deep benches. How did they capture the U.S. House? Through redistricting. How did they get that privilege? By getting control of state legislatures. How did they do that? By getting local people trained in city government, then county government. They play the long game.
4. Remember how President Obama emerged? Out of the state house, after having been a community organizer. How did he win? House by house, district by district. We cannot fall asleep in the next 2 years.