ON PROFOUND POLITICAL SHIFTS

COARSE ADJUSTMENTS

House gone, Senate hanging by a thread, but likely going to Democrats with Webb beating Mr. "Macaca" Allen, by few thousand votes.

As a card-carrying Republican, I should feel much worse than I do.

But as a centrist, am seeing the silver lining more than I perhaps should.

Here's hoping we can stay middle of the road as a country.

But that may be under-estimating the forces that drive politicians of both stripes.

Now to start grokking 2008.

Comments

[Dave]

michael, i'm an independent / moderate democrat, but allen deserves to go down. his 'macaca' comment is transparent, as was the 'welcome to america'.

i'm actually pretty aligned with moderate republican policies & fiscal conservatism, but i have zero interest in compromising with old boy racism or the religious right.

it's too bad there are so few republican candidates that provide separate choices on those issues... outside schwarzenegger here in california, and perhaps arlen specter in pennsylvania, there aren't very many options.

i think many of the tech folks here in NorCal would be happy with more centrist republican options, if only they didn't come with all the baggage of old white men & religious conservatives.

after the democrats put together a slate of more moderate candidates and had success in this election, i hope the republicans follow suit. it would be great to have choice coming from the center(s), rather than the extremes.

[Dave]

michael, i'm an independent / moderate democrat, but allen deserves to go down. his 'macaca' comment is transparent, as was the 'welcome to america'.

i'm actually pretty aligned with moderate republican policies & fiscal conservatism, but i have zero interest in compromising with old boy racism or the religious right.

it's too bad there are so few republican candidates that provide separate choices on those issues... outside schwarzenegger here in california, and perhaps arlen specter in pennsylvania, there aren't very many options.

i think many of the tech folks here in NorCal would be happy with more centrist republican options, if only they didn't come with all the baggage of old white men & religious conservatives.

after the democrats put together a slate of more moderate candidates and had success in this election, i hope the republicans follow suit. it would be great to have choice coming from the center(s), rather than the extremes.

[Jo]

Over the years, the Bush administration had become a train wreck, their talking points completely at odds with what is happening on the ground and in the headlines.

It's about time a correction is made. No government that inherits this mess will have an easy job cleaning things up.

There may be republicans with true conservative principles once upon a time, but the current gang do not stand up to the values of their predecessors. They just mouth the talking points but their actions speak otherwise.

The public are not ignorant fools, and that is why they've lost it all this time. I doubt Rumsfeld would get fired if the Dems lost, I doubt Bush will change a single thing if it was a republican sweep.

This is what the country chose, and needs at this moment in time.