Thank you

Update: Welcome, Porkbusters readers! Thanks for the link!

Thank you, conservatives who decided to stay home or protest-vote for third-party or dem candidates. Because of your desire to "teach a lesson" we now face the worst possible outcome of the election -- loss of control of both houses. The war on terror, especially in Iraq, is now compromised. Justice Stevens is virtually guaranteed to retire or keel over any day now, and there is virtually no chance of getting another Roberts or Alito confirmed. Sunsetting the tax breaks is a certainty, and the immigration issue will shortly be settled by the granting of citizenship to 20 million criminals. Rangel is in charge of the House Appropriations, Leahy is in charge of Senate Judicial, and Howard Dean has every reason to keep yapping. Our most lethal enemies in the middle east and eastern Asia are now emboldened and encouraged.

Thank you, third-party Senate candidates, especially in:
Virginia -- the dem/rep difference was 8500; you took 26,000
Montana -- the dem/rep difference was 3000; you took 10,000
Missouri -- the dem/rep difference was 42,000; you took 65,000
Thanks to your presence in these races, the libertarians managed to affect 3 key close elections in favor of the party that wants increased government spending and governmental oversight of virtually every aspect of life, including healthcare, education, business and environmental regulation, and hostility to 2nd Amendment issues. The party that stands by the Kelo decision allowing increased state power with respect to eminent domain, is now in charge. Looks like your agenda has really been furthered....

Thank you, House and Senate Republicans. By forgetting the entirety of the Contract with America which helped you into power 12 years ago, you have made your own supporters decide that an insane opposition party in charge is preferable to you. Bloated spending, abuse of earmarks, open consort with shady lobbyists, blatant lack of desire to cut any programs in favor of expanding existing programs and creating new ones are only the tip of the financial irresponsibility you have demonstrated. Adding to this are the issues you ignored entirely or punted when the NY Times said mean things about you, including making tax cuts permanent, dropping SocSec reform, punting the illegal immigration and border enforcement issue until a few months before the election (special nod to the Senate for completely ignoring your constituents here; at least the House passed a semblance of wall/enforcement-first legislation).

Then there are the wondrous things you passed willingly, like the McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection Act, the Bloated Medicare and Free Pills Bill, the various Farm, Highway, and Education bills that served only to increase the wealth of you and your lobbyists. Your judicial compromise in the Senate with the Gang of Fourteen got some nominees through with limited bloodshed, but it was cowardly and did not exhibit leadership or power.

Contributing to all these issues is the simple fact that the House and Senate Republicans never once acted like they had majorities, let alone control of either house. By "working with" the dems and "showing collegiality" you completely undercut your authority and gave them the boots with which they walked all over you. In the process your base sat out here scratching our heads trying to figure out why you didn't simply force them back.

Finally, I wish to thank President Bush. By never using the veto pen (except for the disastrous threat regarding Dubai Port World), you have allowed the misbehaving children in the Senate and the House to run up the spending and exhibit less control over the checkbook than a 16-year-old who just got paid on Friday afternoon. You went along with McCain-Feingold, wrote the Education bill with Ted Kennedy, have been completely wrong on immigration/borders, put up the disastrous Meiers nomination, and completely screwed the pooch on a PR level with the Dubai ports issue. In the meantime, you never grabbed Frist and Hastert by the collar and told them what they needed to get done a la LBJ. In not prosecuting the Iraqi occupation more forcefully you left yourself and our side open to legitimate and illegitimate criticism in the most sensitive time possible, and gave the dems the perfect electoral excuse.

I expected us to lose the House but only be down single-digit seats. We could have kept it, but it was historically destined to be lost, and only a massive burst of conservatism and enthusiasm would have saved it. That did not happen, and the expected loss happened. The Senate, on the other hand, was not not only keepable, but in fact SHOULD HAVE been kept. There was no historical or legitimate reason for us to lose both houses.

So thanks to everyone listed above. Now we have a terrible situation, even if it is not the end of the world. Losing the House is bad enough, but losing the Senate is disastrous. Now, not only do we not have the power and have a severely hobbled president, but that power is concentrated in incumbency for the dems in upcoming elections.

Incumbency was always a hard nut to crack, but now it is even harder to do thanks to McCain-Feingold. Republicans had the power and could have limited the damage. They chose not to, and the voters were faithless enough to allow them to lose. Now the dems are entrenched and will be even harder to dislodge in 2008, 2010, and 2012. In the meantime we have a war that will most certainly be subjected to Vietnamization, a SocSec and Medicare crisis that will only be solved by tax hikes, and 3 or 4 Supreme Court justices that will retire in the next 6-8 years that we most likely will not be able to replace with Thomases or Scalias.

Thanks, guys. That was sure fun, wasn't it? I hope those 12 years were worth the 35 or 40 you're going to spend trying to get the power back. And will the libertarians PLEASE GROW UP?