Believer.
William Safire, in yesterday's NYTimes, came out of hiding to write a pick-me-up column for conservatives. Among other things, he he talked about "the limited scope" of the Democrats' win on Tuesday. He also reminded readers that the Dems had only picked up about the average number of seats you'd expect for an opposition party in year six of a two-term presidency.
Safire's old, so I'll forgive him for completely missing why, in the new era of politics Bush et al ushered in circa 2000, the stats don't reflect the true scope of the Dems' victory.
See, for we Democrats and independents, the exact number of seats gained is less important than the fact that Democrats were allowed to win at all. We've been living, since '00, in a country where, on some level, we truly believed that corruption, fraud, cronyism and gerrymandering had made it virtually impossible for non-Republicans to ever again have any control of our national government. I know I felt that way. And I had good reason. Remember that time when George W. Bush lost the election, but then his Supreme Court buddies bent their own state-ist rules to hand him the presidency? Remember last time 'round, when Texans -- with the almost certainly illegal help of Tom DeLay -- bent their own state's rules to redistrict 7 democrats out of Congress? Remember how, as of just a few months ago, pundits all over TV and print told us that the GOP had so much money, and had so successfully redrawn the district maps, that it was going to take an act of God for Democrats to take back the Senate, despite the overwhelming anti-Republican sentiment sweeping the country?
That the Dems could overcome such massive obstacles shows that their win was far greater than Safire and his numbers suggest. But this election didn't just put Dems back into power. For a significant chunk of the country, it restored faith that our deomocracy still works. The Times ran an interesting blurb the other day, showing Americans have far less faith in the accuracy of vote counts than do their counterparts in other Democracies around the world. Only 60-some percent of us actually believe our votes are even fucking counted. I bet if that poll were taken today, those numbers would be significantly better. I know this American's response has changed.
Safire's old, so I'll forgive him for completely missing why, in the new era of politics Bush et al ushered in circa 2000, the stats don't reflect the true scope of the Dems' victory.
See, for we Democrats and independents, the exact number of seats gained is less important than the fact that Democrats were allowed to win at all. We've been living, since '00, in a country where, on some level, we truly believed that corruption, fraud, cronyism and gerrymandering had made it virtually impossible for non-Republicans to ever again have any control of our national government. I know I felt that way. And I had good reason. Remember that time when George W. Bush lost the election, but then his Supreme Court buddies bent their own state-ist rules to hand him the presidency? Remember last time 'round, when Texans -- with the almost certainly illegal help of Tom DeLay -- bent their own state's rules to redistrict 7 democrats out of Congress? Remember how, as of just a few months ago, pundits all over TV and print told us that the GOP had so much money, and had so successfully redrawn the district maps, that it was going to take an act of God for Democrats to take back the Senate, despite the overwhelming anti-Republican sentiment sweeping the country?
That the Dems could overcome such massive obstacles shows that their win was far greater than Safire and his numbers suggest. But this election didn't just put Dems back into power. For a significant chunk of the country, it restored faith that our deomocracy still works. The Times ran an interesting blurb the other day, showing Americans have far less faith in the accuracy of vote counts than do their counterparts in other Democracies around the world. Only 60-some percent of us actually believe our votes are even fucking counted. I bet if that poll were taken today, those numbers would be significantly better. I know this American's response has changed.