excellent post. very optimistic, in a way -- it's wonderful to think that the smear and fear tactics and the rampant cynicism of the GOP circa 1992-2008 are over and done with. and your reasons for the turnabout in attitude seem quite convincing...

the only caveat i have is that, while all of those things certainly contributed to the bloom coming off the turd, so to speak, i wonder if any of them would have made one bit of difference if the economy hadn't taken a giant nosedive, coupled with the war fatigue that has clearly disillusioned so many over the years.

and i wonder if anything's really going to change with an obama presidency. i'm bracing myself for the exact scenario envisioned by the previous posters who think "the fix is in" -- i don't, by the way -- an immediate and systematic program of smearing, demonizing, and generally rendering ineffective the new administration, all in the service of gaining back control. the screams will be especially strident given that it's now clear that dems will control both houses, albeit probably not with filibuster-proof numbers.

It's fun to play these thought experiment, what-if games, but we can't seriously imagine that anything would look remotely similar if McCain -- not to mention Gore -- had emerged from the 2000 election season with the presidency. Bush's "win" was a through-the-looking-glass moment in American politics, undermining basic assumptions we had about democracy, fairness, the role of the Supreme Court, and the depths to which one party would go to seize power. 9/11 was another one -- there we plumbed the even further depths that party would go to in the service of consolidating and wielding that power, quashing internal resistance with divisive, extremist rhetoric, and brushing aside external resistance with arrogant bravado.

The assumptions many conservatives came away from those moments with were perhaps only heightened versions of what they'd already believed -- that the left was a bunch of elite, weak-livered socialists just waiting for the right moment to sign the country away to the French, etc. But with one added assumption that qualitatively changed those assumptions: that the Republican party had been granted permanent authority (by God, circumstances, whathaveyou) to lead the country back to greatness. What we're seeing now is the great gnashing of teeth at the possibility that that's not actually true, or at least that view isn't shared by a majority of the country. To me, that's why the virulence of the hate and the barrel-scraping is so disturbing and fascinating to watch.

Glenn, this is starting to remind me of the Repub convention meltdown of 92, when viewers watched in horror as the extreme Christian right fractured the unity of the base and left the party in disarray. Seems that every generation or so the extreme right takes on a kind of hubris, drunk on its own power and convinced of its invincibility at the polls. Then all those decent folks in the middle wake up, look around, and realize how frightening and empty their rhetoric is. Usually it's spurred by larger issues -- remember "it's the economy, stupid"?

The sad thing is they'll be back. They'll reconnoiter, circle around, and seep up with new lines of attack that amount to the same old thing. And you can bet that an Obama presidency and dem control of both houses will give them plenty to tear their hair out feel persecuted about.

palin's getting alaska to foot the bill for her kids' travel expenses. hope she's at least giving the frequent flier miles back to the state.

The Phillies bench is THIN... when i looked at the lineup and realized Pedro Feliz was starting at 3rd, my heart sank. There are too many holes in the lineup, which is why leaving men on base is going to be an ongoing theme for them this series.

And the previous poster is right -- though of course you can't sit Howard. He looks like David Ortiz revisited, right down to the exaggerated shift he hits into (when he's not striking out). The problem's in the head, though, not the wrist.

No, I don't believe the Big Ten polls -- have never heard of them before. They should stick to football or whatever it is they do.

That said, I am finally -- big sigh -- starting to relax JUST A LITTLE as it seems McCain's campaign may have hit a peak and the repubs just can't stop shooting themselves in the foot, PR wise...

I will vote, of course, and encourage everyone else to vote too. However, I registered in NY state almost a month ago and have to receive my registration card. Anyone else having similar problems?

yeah, his library card's expired. simple, right?

my first thought was he's not engaged with reading signals from the catcher; therefore, he's entered his windup motion. but i'm probably wrong about this.

mccarver sucks! the lamest moment for me was after buck explained all the ground rules around the catwalk rings inside tropicana -- another reason it's a joke of a stadium, by the way, along with the "rays" swimming around in the aquarium that parents let their kids dip their hands in -- and afterwards mccarver said, "these players are interested in winning different kinds of rings..."

yuk-yuk-yuk! lame pun, dumbass! mccarver does this at least five times a game. give me the TBS crew any day.