Rush Limbaugh: 'I Feel Liberated'

I'm listening to Rush Limbaugh today, an experience that has been 140 minutes of unadulterated delight. I had forgotten how enjoyable his show becomes when his party has suffered a crushing defeat from one coast to the other.

A few minutes ago, Limbaugh declared that he wouldn't carry President Bush's water any more, tearing into him so harshly that Matt Drudge brought out the siren:

I FEEL LIBERATED... I NO LONGER HAVE TO CARRY THE WATER FOR PEOPLE WHO DON'T DESERVE IT

I've attached the audio from part of his rant. Limbaugh, who said he was tired of coming in day after day defending Republicans for this campaign, predicted that Bush will spend the next two years conceding ground to his new Democratic overlords in the hopes it will make him more popular.

Update: Here's six more minutes of Limbaugh beginning the president's lame duck status with a bang.

Other Republican partisans are now claiming they only defended Republicans to help the team win. On Hugh Hewitt's blog today, Dean Barnett made this admission:

In the closing weeks of the campaign season, I felt like I was a lawyer who had a bad client while writing this blog. That client was the Republican Party which had broken its Contract with America from 1994 and had become unmoored from its conservative principles. As its advocate, I couldn't make a more compelling case for Republicans staying in power than the fact that the Democrats would be worse. I believed in that case, but when that's all the party gave its advocates to work with, you can honestly conclude that Republicans got this drubbing the old fashioned way -- we earned it.

If Limbaugh's being honest today, he helped seal the GOP's fate by setting aside his doubts and picking up pom-poms. Before the election, if he had told his audience of millions that Bush and the Republican Congress were going the wrong direction, the toughlove might have prevented the rout.

But I'm not complaining. I'm so happy about this turn of events that I have warm feelings for Markos Moulitsas.

Radio · Politics · 2006/11/08 · 51 COMMENTS · Link

Senate Democrats: 'The Votes are In, and We Won'

People who stayed up late to follow the elections saw a surprising moment in Virginia's Senate race. Trailing by less than one percent, incumbent Sen. George Allen gave a "see ya next morning" speech instead of conceding. A few minutes later challenger Jim Webb took the mike at his rally.

Established etiquette for political candidates is to give the loser a chance to concede before making your victory speech. Webb began his remarks with an acknowledgement of Allen and the democratic process, saying that "we all go out, we vote, we argue, we vote."

Then he said something unexpected that was met with the roaring approval of his supporters: "But also I'd like to say the votes are in, and we won." On MSNBC, which missed airing Webb's remarks live, Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann reacted immediately with slack-jawed amazement.

This is how the game is played post Bush v. Gore, and if Democrats want the Senate they'll show they learned something in 2000.

Six years ago, George W. Bush emerged from election night with a 1,784-vote lead in Florida and was treated by the media as the winner of the presidential election. This was a dubious claim -- Florida's voting process was a mess and either candidate could have overcome that margin in a thorough accounting of votes cast. As days passed, Gore faced increasing pressure to quit pursuit of a recount, even from members of his own party.

This morning in Virginia, with 99.8 percent of the votes counted, here's the results:

Jim Webb (D): 1,171,813

George Allen (R-Incumbent): 1,164,767

In Montana, with more than 99 percent of the votes cast, here's the results:

Jon Tester (D): 194,194

Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Incumbent): 193,179

When you factor in their respective populations, a 1,015-vote lead in Montana is comparable to a 7,046-vote lead in Virginia. Both leads are significantly larger, by percentage of population, than Bush's original lead over Gore in Florida.

If the media treats this election the same way, the votes are in, and we won.

Webb and Tester should be considered the winners of their races, not the candidates who are leading pending a recount. The Democrats have retaken the Senate. With every day that passes -- a recount in Virginia will take at least a month -- Burns and Allen will fall further into the same trap as Al Gore. There's no patience for a drawn-out voting dispute in our short-attention-span media. By next week, if the two Republican incumbents are still chasing votes, they'll be derided as sore losermen.

Politics · 2006/11/08 · 11 COMMENTS · Link

If You Had Told Me in 1986 ...

Trying desperately to find a silver lining in the loss of the House and likely loss of the Senate, rabid Republican blogger Hugh Hewitt writes:

... if you had told me in 1986 that 20 years later there would be a Republican president facing a 20 seat Democratic majority in the House and a two seat Democratic majority in the Senate -- and that the Soviet Union had collapsed -- I'd have cheered long and loud.

The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. That's a very weird use of the "if you had told me x years ago" technique.

If you had told me in 1986 that 20 years later the Democrats would retake Congress -- and that the St. Louis Cardinals would be world champs -- I'd place a huge bet on them and use the winnings to create my merciless robot army.

Sports · Politics · 2006/11/08 · 9 COMMENTS · Link

Election Prognosticators Expect Dem House, Tied Senate

The Drudge Retort's election prediction contest received 51 entries. Leaving out two impossible entries (the Senate will not end up with 0 or 227 Democrats), here's the collective prediction:

Average House prediction: 228.92 Democrats and independents

Average Senate: 50.53 Democrats and independents

Predicting a Democratic House: 44 of 49 entrants

Predicting a Democratic Senate: 24 of 49 entrants

Average prediction for Katherine Harris: 33.78 percent

Politics · 2006/11/07 · 6 COMMENTS · Link

Hallowed Be Thy Republican

During every election, the Wonders of Truth Christian superstore reminds locals that the road to hell is paved with Democratic politicians.

In honor of today's vote, here's the front and back of their signs:

Politics · Jacksonville · Florida · 2006/11/07 · 15 COMMENTS · Link

Election: Predict the Results, Win an iPod Nano

I'm running a prediction contest on the Drudge Retort today.

The Cook Political Report, Evans-Novak Political Report and Rothenberg Political Report have made their final predictions. What's yours? Before 3 p.m. EST, predict the total number of Democrats and independents in the House and Senate after today's election. The closest guess wins a 1 GB iPod Nano.

Anyone can join the site and submit an entry. When the contest deadline's over, I'll compile the average prediction so we can judge how closely the entrants are in sync with the actual results.

Politics · 2006/11/07 · 3 COMMENTS · Link

GOP Makes Millions of Obnoxious Robocalls

Liberal bloggers are trying desperately this evening to get the mainstream media to cover a dirty trick of monumental proportions being waged by the Republican National Committee: Millions of obnoxious automated calls are being made that sound like they're coming from Democratic candidates.

On their blog, the Washington bureau of the Chigago Tribune explains the stunt:

I have received a deluge of emails since last night from Democrats complaining about the flood of last-minute phone calls Republicans are making to voters in an effort drive down the Democratic vote tomorrow.

The e-mailers are upset about "robocalls" -- pre-recorded, automated phone calls containing anti-Democratic political messages.

The calls initially sound like they're coming from the Democratic candidates since they mention the Democrat's name right off the bat.

But they're actually being made by Republican organizations like the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Because the calls come in repeatedly to the same voters, Democrats fear the annoyed recipients of the calls, who often hang up before it becomes apparent that the calls are being made by Republicans, will be turned off to their candidates, blaming Democrats for interrupting their dinner or sleep.

Some people who have received these calls say that after they hang up, they're being called back 5-7 more times. New Hampshire has challenged automated calls coming to people on the national do-not-call list.

Joshua Marshall of Talking Points Memo has more on the story, which he describes as an "election subversion operation."

Politics · 2006/11/06 · 33 COMMENTS · Link

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