The .Plan

Of all the days in the year, I had to be traveling on this one. A few disjointed observations:

• I’m kind of happy to see Robert Casey Jr. (D) beat Rick Santorum (R) in Pennsylvania. If Santorum had been more low-key, then his missteps would be more excusable. But I really hated how he consistently dragged the name of Christ through the mud. (However, I have to admit that, for all of his gaffes, he was one of the few Republicans who consistently fought for helping the poor and excluded.)
  
• Donald Rumsfeld: EAT IT, YOU A**HOLE.
  
• Gov. Bob Riley (R-Alabama): yay.
  
• Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio): I am a big fan of this guy.
  
• I wonder whether the Democrats will tolerate ‘pro-life’ politicians. Folks like Robert Casey Jr. (D-Pennsylvania), Bill Ritter (D-Colorado), Heath Shuler (D-North Carolina), Brad Ellsworth (D-Indiana) — did the Democratic Party leadership support their candidacies simply because it was politically expedient to do so en route to taking over the House and Senate? More generally, it looks like moderate/conservative “Blue Dogs” were crucial in helping the Democrats come to power. But the old-guard liberals will occupy the choice chairmanships. Sounds like tension for the future.
  
• Nancy Pelosi (D-California) as madam speaker? Eh. Totally not excited.

So Rick Santorum loses, and his son gives the country the bird on national tee-vee:

Precious.

Lastly, food for thought:

The religious right has “gone too far,” says Hamilton. “They’ve lost their focus on the spirit of Jesus and have separated the world into black and white, when the world is much more gray.” He adds: “I can’t see Jesus standing with signs at an anti-gay rally. It’s hard to picture that.”
–Lisa Miller, “An Evangelical Identity Crisis”, Newsweek, November 13, 2006