Wednesday Morning Stepping Down, or Where is the ambiguity? It's over there, in a box.

Here's my favorite (so far)post-election blog posts...

Mahablog started watching last night, and notes that it looks like the Green Party candidate may have been what turned Democrats easily winning Virginia into the nail-biter it was last time I checked. A full takeover of the house AND SENATE, which none of the CW was excpecting, is actually within our grasp.

At 2:30 this morning, Shakespeare's Sister posted an election night wrap up in which she expressed a feeling I've got which may explain why I can't quite turn on the colored lights. I'm familiar with the Democrats work.

Shakes said,

As for the victorious Dems, I’ve got only five little words: Congratulations. Don’t let us down.

Tom points out:

A lot of us were concerned that a Democratic win would be downplayed or redefined as defeat; based on last night's (CNN & MSNBC) coverage, that didn't happen. "Stunning" and "blowout" were words I heard more than once over the course of the evening.

I noticed that too, this morning. On CNN a guy was saying he was "surprised." Oh, really. I mean, I know they live in a bubble, but I'm constantly amazed...

Tom further goes on to say

...it wasn't about the Foley scandal. We know that because Reynolds, Shimkus, Boehner, and Hastert--the people most involved, apart from Foley himself--all won re-election. This election can't be dismissed as distorted by a single scandal; this was clearly a referendum on the Republican party as a whole.

The Smart Patrol has some smart-as you would expect-suggestions for Democrats, including:

Keep your goddamn noses clean.

Grow a pair.

No, really, keep your goddamn noses clean.

The time for Republican Lite is over. You wanted to appear centrist so you could get voted in? Fine. You're voted in. Now stop with this "no amnesty" shit, get on board with stem cell research, get your voters some goddamned health care, and stop with this "well, I'm for civil unions" bullshit.

There. Lecture over. Congratulations, and don't let us down.

Are you detecting a theme?

Over at Wings For Wheels, it's (finally) morning in America again.

...there is no ambiguity about the messages that were sent throughout the House Of Representatives, the state legislatures and capitols. An unqualified rejection of everything the Bush Administration has done to the country over the last six years. What strikes me most about looking at the maps is that the Democrats did not lose any seats. Unfortunately, that meant that some good, moderate Republicans had to go, but it also showed moderation in your speeches means nothing when you vote the party line on most issues.

And in news completely unrelated to the vote yesterday, the vile Rumsfeld is stepping down.

And finally, everything at Unclaimed Territory is, as usual, worth reading. But if you're only going to read one, make it this one:

One of the most important things our country needs is a bright light to be shined on what this Government has done, and if the Bush administration really wants to resist those inquiries and claim the right not just to be above the law, but also immune from scrutiny, all the better.

As effectively as anything, that resistance will highlight exactly what they are. And the ensuing fight -- framed as the President's claimed entitlement to continue to operate in complete secrecy, with no limits or checks, just as he did for five years with a rubber-stamping Republican Congress -- is exactly the one that Democrats should aggressively seek out and engage.

I hope these are good signs. I hope they're good signs for all of us.