The Day After

I’m glad the election is over, and I’m starting to enjoy the aftermath. For one thing, the truth is starting to come out, and it’s very refreshing. For example, the worst economy evar!!1!!eleventy! really hasn’t been bad at all. Most families have made out pretty well.

In fact, the percentage of poor voters showed a huge decrease since 2004, while the percentage of folks making over $200,000 doubled.

Slublog hopes that this loss will at least put a stop to open primaries.  I had forgotten that John McCain did not win the majority vote of registered Republicans in a single primary up to Super Tuesday. I wrote back during the primaries that if McCain won the nomination, then conservatives had lost the election regardless of who the next president would be.  And in some ways, it works out better for conservatives that the RINOs are being purged from the GOP.  Also, a determined GOP minority which digs in and opposes Democratic policies will get more done than a compliant GOP headed up by a RINO. McCain is a good man, but hardly a conservative.  I’m also glad that so much of the inside-the-beltway punditry exposed their true beliefs.

The Anchoress has an open thread, with the caveat that she will not permit unhinged Bush-bashing:

It’s time to take a breath – you folks on both sides – and regain your sanity where President Bush is concerned, and find some generosity. He has been treated disgracefully by a country he has never broken faith with, and here he will be respected.

Well said.  I don’t like Bush.  It didn’t take me long to become disenchanted with “compassionate conservatism” but he is a good man and deserved better than he’s gotten.  Quite a lot of my frustration and anger toward him has been due to his refusal to use the bully pulpit and get the facts out there, in defiance of media spin.  History is going to treat him a lot more kindly than the press has.  Although, like John Adams, it’s going to take a long time for that to happen.

Continuing the “good” men theme, Patterico asserts that Barack Obama is one.

I have endured some criticism for saying that Barack Obama, with whom I disagree about almost everything, is a good man trying to do what he thinks is right for this country.

Some commenters have disagreed, citing Obama’s support for grisly forms of late-term abortion; his attendence of a church with a pastor who said anti-American things in some of his sermons; his relationship with unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers; his disturbingly close relationship with corrupt individuals such as Tony Rezko; his broken promises; and his many falsehoods about John McCain. They point to his campaign’s inappropriate use of the race card; his disabling of credit card verification checks; his minions’ attempts to silence free speech with threats; and much more.

There is something to all that, and I don’t think we should pretend these things didn’t happen, or give Obama a false halo. The fact is that John McCain did some things that weren’t too savory during this campaign as well, and as the saying goes, politics ain’t beanbag. Good men do bad things, and in the pursuit of ambition, they almost always do.

I disagree.  I think it’s ridiculous to conflate support for late-term abortion and the rest of that list with a tough political campaign.  And it’s worth pointing out that the majority of McCain’s “unsavory” offenses consisted of pointing out what Obama does, in fact, support!  I believe it’s objectively true that Barack Obama is NOT a good man.  How can he be, and support late-term abortion?  It is an objectively evil, inexcusable act.  I could add more examples, but none will top that one.  Regardless, I’ll pray for him and for the country.

And of course, now that they’ve won, the media’s mask is off and their advocacy is more plain than ever. Harvey at IMAO picks a nit, but he’s right; the media’s wordsmiths know better.

Michelle Malkin writes So much for “AmeriKKKa” and issues an assignment for fiscal conservatives:

1) Oppose the Democrats’ next stimulus boondoggle.
2) Oppose Obama’s windfall profits tax proposal.
3) Oppose new bailouts for states deep in debt.
4) Oppose new foreclosure prevention measures that will simply provide perverse incentives for borrowers to walk away and delay a needed market correction.
5) No more federal loan guarantees for corporations (especially in light of this.

Jay Tea analyzes why Obama won and says “public be damned.”  (I agree.)  The answer is not to continue to move the GOP further left.  It’s to tack right, hard, and replace the RINOs who lost this election with conservatives the first chance we get.  There’s some Monday morning quarterbacking at PJM.  Ed Morrissey hopes Obama will be better than Jimmy Carter.  I hope that too, but I doubt it.  Gas lines, sweaters, and submitting to Iran – here we come! Steven den Beste has more along those lines:

I think Obama is going to turn out to be the worst president since Carter, and for the same reason: good intentions do not guarantee good results. Idealists often stub their toes on the wayward rocks of reality, and fall on their faces. And the world doesn’t respond to benign behavior benignly.

… The main reason this will be a “coming of age” moment is that now Obama and the Democrats have to put up or shut up. Obama got elected by making himself a blank slate, with vapid promises about “hope” and “change” — but now he actually has to do something. Now he has to reveal his true agenda. And with the Democrats also having a majority in both chambers of Congress, now the Democrats really have to lead. And they’re not going to do a very good job of it. It’s going to be amusing to watch.And the people who fell for the demagoguery will learn an invaluable lesson.

Forbes has an interesting article on the end of racism.

Michelle Bachmann – even after getting hammered for that infamous Chris Matthew’s intereview – won re-election and so did Norm Coleman, who defeated that nut job Al Franken. Back in August I suggest we knock off the apocalyptic rhetoric. And so we should. Now’s the time to dig in and get ready for the next election. And for Christians, now’s the time to pray for our next President and for the nation.