This really is looking more and more like an SNL skit. I voted in Minnesota and it has the easiest, biggest print ballot in the entire country. In order to choose your candidate, you fill in an enclosed oval space with ink. Just like the SAT. With money (and therefore many attys who should be attending DUI arraignments) from the RNC & the DNC, thousands upon thousands of ballots are being poured over. This country's biggest electorate problem is not that people do not know that there are 9 justices on the Supreme Court or that Cheney is the VP like Leno likes to point out. The real problem is that there are thousands of voters who do not know how to fill in an enclosed oval next to the candidate of their choice. Matthews was showing some disputed ballots yesterday. Idiots actually filled in one oval and then made a check mark alongside some other candidate's name. Or they fill in the oval with ink and then attempt to CROSS OUT the oval. Fifteen feet from my voting booth were volunteers ready willing and able to help a voter out. These people do not deserve to vote.

I got so mad about this, about the success of the right wing propaganda machine that I actually called myself a Fabian. The name of the nineteenth century political action group that included GB Shaw seemed fine for me. When I got mad enough I would just call myself a socialist. I knew a guy who owned a half-way house funded by liberal governmental programs and liberal charities and would project this disdain for "liberals." Meanwhile, he manages to pull out more than 40% of the gross from the operation and pay himself $100,000.00 a year. Besides the liberals paying his salary, he benefited from liberal programs to get a community college degree that got him the job that ended up getting him ownership of the operation. I have met hundreds of people like this ingrate and I never understood the hypocrisy. Hopefully, if the left can get their propaganda machine running smoothly, the word Republican and the word conservative can carry a bad connotation for decades to come.

One of the problems with the New Majority is its age. I was rooting for the guy in his 60s over the octogenarian, although I have revered both Waxman and Dingell for decades. This is THE congressional story except for the run-off and recount in the Senate. The New Majority has to make choices and it appears it will not sweep real conflict under the rug. This is proof to me that innovation is going to come from Congress and not just from the Executive Branch. This is the kind of change that Obama has been talking about. As one reader put it: Hurray for Waxman. Hurray for the Dems. Hurray for the country. Forget red/blue, forget blue dogs. We need to try something new. This vote has really surprised me. This is not just YES WE CAN. This is YES WE ARE GOING TO DO THIS AND THIS IS THE FIRST STEP.

I wanted Hillary and Obama so my feelings are not much different from Joan's. The problem is that all the pundits want to predict the future--place their bets and show how bright and right they were after the transition is complete. I am just sitting back and enjoying the show. No one is more prepared to be Secretary of State than Senator Clinton. If she does not have the answer to some diplomatic problem, she would know exactly who might have that answer. She has contacts throughout the world that are astounding. She would have a more than able and competent staff to help her. But it is quite a show with the Chicago gang, the Clinton gang, the Democratic Hill gang, the media gang, etc. This is real democracy in action.

The Reps are claiming that the Democratic Secretary of State--an office that Statutorily handles the recount--will somehow pull a "Katherine Harris." The fact is that the Minnesota Secretary of State is a fine gentleman who might enjoy being represented in a skit on SNL but who has little power over the actual recount. Instead, a panel of five or so members-appointed under statute-- is actually the final arbiter and four of the five members--if I recall correctly--are Republicans. Two members, for instance, are Justices on the Minnesota Supreme Court who were appointed by the present Governor. The real issue to me, a life-time Minnesota resident, is why the Reps think the Media can somehow help them during the recount. I have read several articles on this subject including some from the Minneapolis Star/Trib and I cannot figure out what they are trying to prove. Both sides need to employ attorneys to oversee the recount, but I fail to see how whining to the media can help the Rep's cause. Individual precinct "counters" are not going to be swayed.

"The Average American", "America is a center-right country", "Moderate Americans." Greenwald, as usual, has got it right. If you took away these phrases from the English Language, cable news would go out of business. There is no basis, no substantiation, no factual sources to even test these contentions. Remember when one of Nixon's nominations to the Supreme Court went down because of the nominee's lack of intellectual credentials? Nixon spokesmen defended the nomination on the basis that the American People somehow deserved an average Joe on the court to represent "their" legal perspective. There are over 300,000,000 people in this country and to attempt to categorize them in this manner is simplistic, to say the least. Demagogues use phrases like this and like "Silent Majority" to create some sort of team affect. I do not think the people with extremist, unpopular views actually believe in the Average American, anymore than they really believe that God is somehow on their side. They are simply attempting to gain or keep political power.