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I've neglected my blog for too long, so I'm back for more ramblings from my hill overlooking Cox's Creek. It's been a very interesting election season to say the least. For starters, this is the first election in recent memory that hasn't featured Democrats crying "foul" over the election returns. This is big news for Diebold and other election machine companies. I've heard too many times how Republicans allegedly "cheated" on past elections; ironically this year there was nary a single soundbite of a pissed-off, ranting Democrat on proclaiming vote fraud. The reason? I suspect that Democrats across the country were doing what local Democrats did in Nelson County -- watched election returns from their favorite watering hole and turned the bottle up. Reports from those at the Talbott Tavern that night have mentioned more than one candidate, supporter or media member who was (as we used to say) "feeling no pain." I don't blame Dems for celebrating, though the Congressional gains by the party were neither a shock nor surprise. The loss of seats by the Presidents' party is historically a given fact for the midterm election in a President's second term. The biggest variable seems to be how many seats will be lost. Congressional bipartisan cooperation or gridlock?I've watched Rep. Nancy Pelosi's many press appearances and listened to her talk ad nauseum about bipartisan cooperation. She really has no choice, she has to put that kind of spin out there before the voters. If you want the truth, you only need dig a little deeper in the news to hear what Congressional Democrats are preparing for.Democrats are gleefully preparing to go after everything they can via congressional committees and investigations. They will call it "oversight," though the term "revenge" is probably more appropriate. It all depends on your point of view, and on which side of aisle you sit. Congresssional Democrats have -- to the Far Left's dismay -- put a lid on any movement to impeach President Bush. Even Democrats realize the need to keep their own leftwing kooks -- and their radical agenda -- hidden from the voting public. Most Democrats who ousted Republicans did so by rather narrow margins. The last thing Democrats want to do is to let the far left alienate voters -- again. You won't hear Democrats waving the banner for same-sex marriage much in the immediate future. Many Democrats who won did so by running as moderates. State Rep. Mike Weaver, who proudly boasted he was a conservative, carried Nelson County but was beaten in most other counties. Weaver, who clung tightly to the conservative label, accepted thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from liberal Democrats. One contradiction I never heard him address was the notion that he and "40 other Democrats" would not vote for Rep. Nancy Pelosi for Speaker of the House. He said that several times, and on "The Brooks & Ken Show" on WBRT -- while he had Pelosi's campaign contributions in his campaign bank account. Maybe I'm wrong, but if you don't support a person's politics, perhaps you shouldn't accept their contributions to your own campaign. Those contradictions don't mean anything now. My wife noted how the state press dropped Weaver quickly on Election Night. Rep. Ron Lewis established an early lead in the Second District, and the news stations basically dropped coverage of it. Weaver was a goner. On my way home from the WBRT studios that night I couldn't get any news reports on the radio about the Lewis-Weaver race. I called my wife to get an update, and all she could tell me was that the Louisville TV stations had shifted coverage to the Yarmuth-Northup race. There was nothing left to cover in the Weaver-Lewis race. During their post-election recap, "Comment on Kentucky" (8 p.m. Fridays on KET) spent less than 30 seconds on the Lewis-Weaver race, simply noting that Weaver lost big. While I don't believe Rep. Pelosi's lovey-dovey bipartisanship is authentic, I do believe Democrats want to push forward with her 100-hour agenda. I suspect we'll see the minimum wage addressed, and I'm hanging onto my wallet to see if the tax cuts are amended or rolled back. I strongly suspect Democrats will advance a very flawed immigration plan that will leave our borders as porous and insecure as ever. Change in directionThe current issue of Newsweek has an excellent article about how the senior advisors of President George Bush's father -- Bush 41 -- are coming to the aide of the son in order to chart a new course in Iraq. The move of Robert Gates to Secretary of Defense, the work by James Baker on the Iraq question will also likely mean implementing a foreign policy that resembles his father's.With our country mired in an unpopular war, the Iraq question must be addressed -- for the good not just of the political parties, but for the country.
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