The People/Lunatics Have Spoken

The results of these elections aren't surprising, folks - seriously. And, no, you really don't need to be a partisan liberal, either, to say that they're probably justifiable, too. Not only have the Republicans screwed up for much of the past eight years (though, yes, perhaps with an assist from Barney Frank and Chris Dodd over the final two), they also fielded a candidate for president, John McCain, who ran as dismal a campaign as any in recent memory. The guy (along with his running-mate, of course) basically didn't deserve to win. No argument from this blogger on any of it..................................................Of course, what I did find perplexing (though, no, not really, we are talking politics here) was the absolute bile that was summoned by the left (the extremists, I'm saying) in their attacks on Mr. McCain. I mean, seriously, of all the Republicans to treat like a piece of garbage - I don't know, I would have thought that McCain to have been pretty far down on such a list. Sure, he did some flip-flopping in order to get the Republican nod and all and, yes, ran a negative campaign of his own but, still, who among Republicans has crossed the aisle to work with Democrats more than McCain has? I can't think of many....................................................And, no, folks, it hasn't been on a bunch of easy/consensus issues that McCain has made these compromises. He's worked with Democrats on such contentious issues as climate change, torture, campaign finance, immigration, a patients' bill of rights, gun control, Indian affairs, etc.. Oh, and let's not forget, either, that McCain was one of the prime movers on that "gang of fourteen" (the bipartisan group in the Senate that fought to retain the filibuster option regarding court appointments)....................................................And you know what really surprised me, folks? A lot of this working across the aisle that McCain's been doing has actually taken place SINCE 2005 - the time he was seemingly moving to the right (yes, yes, I know, the 90% but, please, read on). Of all the legislation that McCain has introduce over the past three years, 55% of those times he's had a Democratic co-sponsor. Compare this to President-Elect Obama - who, when he has put forth legislation, has only sought a Republican co-sponsor 13% of the time. And when he did have a Republican co-sponsor, the legislation was usually of a non-contentious nature; ethics reform, loose "nukes", stuff like that...............................................So, yeah, while I do agree with those who say that the Republicans were undeserving of re-election, that McCain himself ran a lousy/"push the envelope" enterprise, no, I just couldn't wrap my arms around the vitriol. Sorry - flip-flops or no flip-flops........................................................P.S. Obviously, folks, I'd be remiss if I didn't also say that the right has had its own field day. They've accuse Mr. Obama of being everything from a Muslim (which isn't exactly an insult, if you think about it) to a drug addict to the illegitimate great grandchild of Friedrich Engels (oh, alright, I made that one up). They've taken some of the more peculiar associations of his and, instead of seeing them in a more benign light (i.e., as simple attempts to further his political career), tried to derive something sinister about them (Sean Hannity, anybody?)......................................................The reason I focused on McCain here is that this is a fellow who, for a while, was considered a de-facto Democrat, a man who used to thumb his nose at his own party, and who John Kerry actually wanted as his running mate in '04. I don't know, I guess I just found it amazing how quickly a lot of these old "friends" of his took an about-face on him. That's all.