Is losing the House AND Senate enough to force  the far right of the GOP to step out of their talk radio/right wing blogger echo chamber?  Until the GOP learns to be less like Frist, less like Bush, and more like Arnold or Rudy, the presidency will be denied them.  I also wonder if they can ever regain the House or Senate.

I'm not in despair.  I frankly am glad to see Sens. Santorum and Allen gone.  They were freaks, out of touch with the electorate.  Rick Santorum speaks for no one I know in Pennsylvania.  He may be a nice, moral guy, but his stands against abortion rights and gay marriage, while they may play well among the extreme rightwingers of our party, they don't play well on Main Street America. 

Now, I live on the Westside of LA, but my roots are in the Philly exburbs.  My sisters  still live there, are married, middle aged gals with husbands in normal jobs, with kids in public schools, with relatives and friends of all genders, religions, sexual orientations, and political philosophies.  I cannot tell you the number of times that I have heard them, and their friends, the very voters the GOP should target, will say that they are personally against abortion, but they also remember what it was like when abortion was illegal. 
They believe that the only way to stop abortion isn't by making it illegal, but by persuading young people to act more responsibly.  They know that young people have always had, and always will have, sex outside of marriage, and that 'abstinence' is just not going to happen in modern day America.

I'm not in despair, but I sure am angry.  I am angry that Allen ran such a horrible campaign, and couldn't handle any adversity that arose.  I'm angry that Allen would use words like macaca, or deny that his mother had Jewish roots.  I'm angry that Talent in Missouri did not stand up to Rush Limbaugh and make it clear that he isn't against all stem cell research, and that he would keep an open mind regarding embryonic stem cell research.  It is one thing to have strong personal beliefs, it is another thing to get elected in spite of them.

I am angry that it takes me 45 minutes to drive what used to take me 10, all because illegal immigration and overcrowding in Los Angeles have made this wonderful city a third-world cesspool in spots.  Our schools are overrun and at times dangerous.  All because President Bush chose not to enforce Simpson Mazzoli, and wants to help out his corporate buddies who want cheap Mexican labor, passing the benefits on to us taxpayers.

I'll blog more as I review the results, but we Republicans need to realize that all the values, all the foundational beliefs, all the strongly held opinions are worthless unless we are in power.

On to 2008, but let's get rid of the far right.   

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