There have been many diaries celebrating the death of the GOP, and event which I'd find magnificent.
A reality check though: after this election, Republicans will have:
- 40-43 seats in the US Senate (depending on still-to-be-resolved races in AK, MN, and GA)
- 175-180 US House seats
- Governorships in 22 states, including CA, HI, RI, and VT (states which absolutely SHOULDN'T)
- Majorities in the legislatures in 14 states (counting NE that's technically non-partisan), and majorities in one house in an additional 13.
- MANY former Republican representatives and staffers at various levels, who could claim to be a "statesman" and carry the Republican banner forward. NO states have Republican-free legislatures.
This is the party that survived Watergate, survived not ending the Vietnam war when they'd promised to, survived causing the Great Depression, etc. We liberals write them off at our peril.
My intent here is not to throw cold water on anyone's celebration, or disagree with any of the diaries detailing how bad the Republicans' situation is. But I think we liberals need to not count them as dead yet. In 2004 the Republicans were quite happy to extirpate Democrats: I think that's the appropriate action for us now.
My thoughts on HOW we can finally "throw the son-of-a-bitch an anvil" (to repeat James Carville's famous quote) will come in a later diary.
A bibliography for those interested in learning more: