I haven’t had a good night of election returns in ten years. The last decade has been the fuel of my political cynicism. This is why I’ll be waiting two years for the other shoe to drop. I’ve heard a couple of smart people say that the Democrats didn’t win so much as the GOP lost. I agree, in part… the GOP may have done EVERYTHING wrong leading up to this election; BUT, the Democrats did one smart thing… they ran moderate, center-left candidates targeted against some extremely conservative incumbents in not quite so conservative districts. Maybe that sounds like a no-brainer… but it has seemed like the blue party was short a few political neurons for the last ten years.

Take Rick Santorum (YES!!!). I heard one political hack after another talk about what a nice guy the (ex) Senator from PA was, pointing out some of the rather Democratic issues he championed such as poverty. However, despite his feelings on poverty he was one of the most divisive Republicans in the Senate (in terms of bi-partisan goodwill) – nice guy or not. He was just about as socially conservative as they came, and he was voted out by a more moderate electorate in Pennsylvania – who had a moderate Democratic alternative.

The chairman of the RNC made me feel a little better last night… even if it wasn’t his intent. He said that every two-term president since 1822 lost seats in congress (seats belonging to his party) in the mid-terms of their second term.

As it turns out, he was wrong. Clinton (or more accurately, the Democrats) picked up five seats in 1998 – despite the above history, and despite Ken Starr having released his report on the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

Much has happened in the world these last two days… and I’ve been oblivious to all of them. I’ve been a U.S. politics junkie for the last 36 hours. Much has happened in U.S. politics, but the most striking thing to me has been the Rumsfeld thumpin’.

It’s been called a well kept secret… suggesting that it’s been in the works for the last couple of weeks. The news has alluded to Bush’s comments a week ago, when he said he intended to keep Rumsfeld for the remainder of his term. The news has alluded to several strategic reasons for being less than forthcoming about Rummy’s departure a week ago.

Strategic or not, it’s a striking admission to me (by Bush) because he’s admitting for the first time that he looked into the cameras and lied to the watching public. As lies go its a pretty harmless lie, but for the guy that ran for office six years ago against the “Modern Day King of the Whopper” (aka, “The Inventor of the Internet”) and as the self portrayed “anti-Clinton,” I think it’s damn near poetic that faced with the toughest political challenge of his life – he fell back on the strategy that no child has left behind – he told a fib.

That’s just awesome!

My wife will tell you that this is nothing outstanding; it’s a foregone conclusion that politicians lie. My wife will tell you that there’s nothing out of the ordinary about a hypocritical politician – it’s practically a requirement to register as a candidate for public office. The fact that this revelation was put off until after the election was a political calculation (to avoid demoralizing GOP faithful right before the election, thereby suppressing turnout of the base – and making last night MUCH worse) just proves my wife’s point. This was just a typical politician doing what any other politician would do… including the Democrats.

I not only disagree, I think it’s a betrayal of his base (albeit a small one). Recall that the GOP has styled itself as the party of the Ten Commandments (see number eight or nine, depending on your Religious affiliation)… as the “what would Jesus do?” party. As such, they should hold themselves to a higher standard. Whether or not you agree this misdirection qualifies as a lie (how can you not?), it is at the very least not honest… and a betrayal of the values he and his party claim to represent. They’re not allowed to say, “the Democrats would do the same thing,” unless they’re willing to admit to their political base of the last 30 years that they really are no better than the Godless Commie Bastards the Dems represent.

Unless there’s something in the Dead Sea Scrolls about a third tablet handed down to Moses (ala Mel Brooks), containing the Five Corollaries of the Ten Commandments… one of which alludes to the ends justifying the means….