etee's Blog

I have given it another 24 hours (seems like a whole season on some TV series!), and so it is now time to see what the fallout has been, and wrap up this election season.

Pending the outcome of some expected recounts, it is now expected that the Senate will join the House in a shift of power to the Dems.

The aftershocks have already begun. The first sacrificial lamb, Donald Rumsfeld, has been laid on the altar of political expediency, and his replacement has already been named. It is Robert Gates, formerly Director of the CIA, currently President of Texas A&M. Oh, and I'll bet that just thrills Steph Davis.

GWB, to demonstrate that he still doesn't have a speech-writer who can put together a cohesive paragraph , had an answer for just why they decided to announce the change at Defense right now with one of the most confounding semi-speeches I have ever heard! (You can read the transcript over at Polimom.) Seriously, I can't do this one justice, folks - and apparently neither could his staff, who really should have been able to anticipate that question, and have a snappy response prepared. Who knows - maybe no one on his staff was ever a Boy Scout.

The politicians themselves are back to talking nicey-nicey at each other - as is their wont. GWB says "compromise", Speaker-apparent PelosiEATSBABIES! says "partnership" - and I say "AARRGGHH!!" Can you say "projectile vomit"?

OK, so we expected the pols to kiss and make up - that is the way they do things. But, what do the "people in the streets" think? To get some sort of idea, I have scanned some of the political blogs - especially looking for the comments from lefties on the right-wing blogs. And, to be honest, what I am reading, while not unexpected, is really somewhat frightening. If our government is really representative of the people, and if the reason people 'voted for a change' because they were afraid of the extremists, then they simply substituted one extreme for the other. Do I see talk of "reconciliation", "partnership", or "compromise"? Quite the opposite. These folks are looking forward to their "moment in the sun" expecting to extract their pound of flesh, and based on the vitriol that is dripping from their comments, I wouldn't put it past them to get, like, violent if PelosiEATSBABIES! doesn't deliver.

Civil war in Iraq? Hell, folks, I am much more concerned about one breaking out over here! I wonder if they still have any of those old missile silos out in the hinterland I can move into and hole up, until this is all over? I wonder if there will be anything left of the USofA when it is done? I wonder if Iran's President is rubbing his hands with glee right about now?

With that, I think I'll take my cue from "TexasSparkle":

Now, I will return to my life and leave politics to those who seem to think that this is some kind of football game (and I mean both sides there) instead of real issues that affect people every day.

Seriously, blogging politics was fun for a bit, but to be truthful it exposes one to more toxicity (not to mention stress) than is safe for humans. So, I think I am done with this... for now, at least.

Technorati tags: politics, current events