CT Blue

We knew it would be brutal, but now that it’s over we can simply begin to reconcile ourselves to the fact that our country has collectively committed itself to continued economic decline, corporate rule, global climate degradation, and denial of science and reason. So it goes.

We here in Connecticut can take cold comfort from the fact that we did reasonably well. Malloy, assuming the court’s don’t pull a Bush v Gore, unlikely since our Connecticut courts have more integrity than Scalia, et. al., will have his work cut out for him, as the Federal government will be incapacitated for the next two years.

I want to tip my hat once again to the folks here in Groton who worked so hard . They made phone calls to everyone in Groton, and also covered neighboring towns, after which they worked on lists from towns we’d have trouble locating on a map. (Why, one must wonder, were the local town committees not doing this?). People appeared out of the woodwork for the final couple of days. I’m sure there are other towns that make this kind of effort, but I also know that there are some that send people to conventions and then sit on their hands. Some Groton folks even stepped up and agreed to make phone calls to Bridgeport when the voting hours were extended. Above and beyond, I call that.

We also swept the board in Groton. Not a single Republican won anything. This, of course, is how it should be, but not historically as it has been in our otherwise fair town. It was likely the first time a Democratic gubernatorial candidate took Groton (albeit by a slim margin) since Fred Flintstone was working in his quarry. Well, at least since 1984.

A few bright spots in our local firmament. Edith Prague won. Elissa Wright beat the 21 year old Tim Plungis, one of those smirky young right wingers that’s waiting in the wings to inflict yet more harm on the country. The more of his type we can nip in the bud, the better.

Two years ago we were hearing about the imminent demise of the Republican party. No doubt we’ll now be hearing about the imminent demise of the Democrats. Our media has no memory, no sense of history, and no ability to project ahead. The Republicans will now proceed to remind everyone why they were voted out two years ago. We’ll have obstructionism, government shutdowns, and probably an impeachment. Unless Obama and the Democrats can’t learn how to frame the debate, which, unfortunately, may be the case, the Democrats will come back in 2012. All things must pass, and there are no permanent victories in politics.

Epilogue (so to speak): What to make of Harry Reid’s bittersweet victory? On the one hand, the Democrat won and Sharon Angle will not be a senator. On the other hand, Harry Reid won, and will no doubt now embark on two more years of ineffectual (“everyone knows it takes 60 votes to pass anything around here”) leadership. And then there’s the silver lining, from what I understand, most of the House members that lost were Blue Dogs. Good riddance to them.

Epilogue 2: It’s time to decompress. I’m heading to my books, Drinking Liberally tomorrow (it won’t be as depressing as it seemed likely to be), and looking forward to the imminent release of IOS 4.2.

Epilogue 3: The regular Wednesday tea party outside Joe Courtney’s office failed to materialize this afternoon. Harbinger?

Update: If you read this earlier, you might have noticed a rather queer ending, consisting of a confidentially statement automatically attached to my emails from work. I drafted the post in an email to myself while I was eating lunch, and sent it home. I did a copy all, and forgot about the statement. Sorry about that.