Daily Archive

I know it’s an important and even top story. Still, as of 21:40 UK time, to be honest this is just way too much coverage on UK Yahoo:

Okay, okay, I’m kidding. I was just trying to be a little creative. Only those first two “News” stories listed are real ones actually about him, of course.

Reuters:

Democrats swept Republicans from power in the U.S. House of Representatives and gained seats in the Senate, riding to victory on a wave of public discontent with the Iraq war, corruption and President George W. Bush’s leadership…

…”I think we will hold control of the Senate,” Republican Party chief Ken Mehlman said on CNN…

Well, if they do hold the Senate . . . frankly, it’s a minor miracle.

…Early exit polls showed voters disapproved of the war in Iraq by a large margin, but voters said corruption and ethics were more important to their vote than other issues including the war, CNN said…

Reuters can’t even get its explanation straight . . . within its own article.  Eh, but what else’s new?

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Also, I see that two prominent Democrats have already spoken of the vote as demonstrating voters’ overwhelming desire for a clear change in “direction”:

…”Tonight is a great victory for the American people,” [Nancy] Pelosi told a Democratic rally on Capitol Hill. “Today the American people voted for change, and they voted for Democrats to take our country in a new direction.”…

And:

…”There’s not a lot we can do to actually force the president to leave Iraq, but ultimately we can have some influence and I think you’ll see certainly an attempt by Democrats to change the direction,” [Howard] Dean told CNN…

That’s fair enough, for sometimes a fresh approach is required. So let’s see if the likes of “On Becoming Fearless…. in Love, Work, and Life“, anywhere/anytime abortion rights, eventually brother “marrying” brother (and why not? for if they are in love they should not be denied “the right” to do so, after all), eliminating the border in the southwest (thus, shall we say, removing a major barrier in the “path to citizenship” for illegal immigrants) and, especially, our finally minimizing ties to the Zionist entity, will help us at last create a “new understanding” first with jihadists and then with the rest of “the world”.

So here’s to our now (somewhat) empowered Democratic party’s leading us all in a “new direction”. However, one point has been overlooked up to now.  It is a directional shift which certainly also calls for the party’s symbol being slightly changed as well, so as to better capture the spirit of the new direction:

There, that’s much better. I feel a great weight has just been lifted from off our shoulders.  Really.  So smile!  For starting from today, America will undoubtedly be far more loved.

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In addition to all that splendid news, the BBC reports:

Nicaragua’s former leader, Daniel Ortega, has won the country’s presidential election…

And at the very same time the Democratic party returns to power in the House. Who says you can’t go home ever again? I mean, does it all ever really get any better than this?  Some have said this election felt like 1966, but for a moment at least it feels a lot more like 1986.

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UPDATE:  On a more serious note, John at Iberian Notes puts it into a Catalan perspective:

…The Republican candidates piled up a total percentage of the vote that is considerably higher than any of the five parties in the Catalan election. That is, the word “repudiation,” which we are going to hear a lot over the next few days in the local press, doesn’t exactly apply…

But that fact won’t, one presumes, prevent them from saying so anyway. Indeed, the BBC even delves into its book of clichés:

…Jamie Coomarasamy in Washington says the results have changed the political landscape in the US…

So while Right Wing News has “A Few Nuggets Of Good News From Last Night“, it seems unlikely the BBC will notice any of those. They are far too busy telling everyone about, among other things, our first Muslim representative (whose name, interestingly, happens to be the very common in Islam “Keith Ellison”; but he is, presumably, no relation to a certain British “actor”) and, of course, our first socialist senator.

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UPDATE 2, 18:45: Reuters, also still “riding the wave”:

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the face of U.S. war policy, will step down after Democrats’ rode Americans’ anger over Iraq to victory in Tuesday’s election, senior defence and administration officials said on Wednesday.

U.S. President George W. Bush said he had offered former CIA Director Robert Gates to replace Rumsfeld, following dramatic victories by Democrats in both the House of Representatives and Senate.

Democrat Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, likely the next leader of the House, said she welcomed the change in Pentagon leadership.

Wait, wait, let us take a guess:

“I think it will give us a fresh start,” Pelosi said.

Or, in another words, a “new direction”?

And the BBC reports:

…Asked if Mr Cheney would be with him for the rest of his term, Mr Bush said “yes he will”…

Who asked that question at a presidential press conference? What a moron! Cheney does not serve at the pleasure of the President, like the defense secretary. He’s an elected official, 2 years into a 4 four year term.

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UPDATE 3: 19:10:  Yes, it must be a “new world”. For example, the BBC’s Paul Reynolds accidently has composed an accurate analytical paragraph:

…The word abroad will be that George Bush is on the defensive and has taken a knock. Enemies will be encouraged. Friends will take cover…