“The American electorate has handed [Barack Obama] and his fellow Democrats the kind of sweeping victory they haven’t had since at least 1976 and in certain respects since 1964. We’ll now find out if the Democratic Party has learned anything since the last two times it held all the levers of power in Washington. … The economy was by far the dominant issue, and voters held GOP Members who belonged to the party in the White House responsible. There’s some injustice in this, because if anything Democratic policies have prevailed the past two years in Washington. But neither Mr. Bush nor John McCain made that case clearly to voters. The Democratic temptation will be to interpret this victory as a mandate for renewed liberal government. Republicans hope they do. The last three times the Democrats won this kind of victory — in 1964, 1976 and 1992 — they overreached and suffered big losses two years later. … Republicans can console themselves that soon Democrats won’t have George W. Bush to kick around anymore. They’ll now have to take responsibility if the economy stays in recession, or if Iraq turns chaotic again after an abrupt U.S. withdrawal. Americans have entrusted Democrats with what will essentially be unrestrained power, and we’ll soon see if liberals have learned to govern.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Ok. It was a bad night. It wasn’t the blow-out the Democrats were hoping for, but it was plenty bad enough.” –Rich Galen
“I come to this moment of national decision with deep concerns about the next president. [Barack Obama’s] victory is likely to unleash an ideological and vengeful Democratic Congress.” –Michael Gerson
“Obama … talks less and less about bipartisanship, his calling card during his earlier messianic stage. He does not need to. [Obama now has] large Democratic majorities in both houses. And unlike Clinton in 1992, Obama is no centrist.” –Charles Krauthammer
“‘E Pluribus Unum’ is no longer our national motto. These three words are: ‘Do For Me.’ As in: What will the government do for me?” –Michelle Malkin
“Politicians have immense power to do harm to the economy. But they have very little power to do good.” –Walter Williams
“Most change in America doesn’t come from politicians. It comes from people inventing things and creating. The telephone, the telegraph, the computer, all those things didn’t come from government. Our world is going to get better and better, as long as we keep the politicians from screwing it up.” –David Boaz
“Conservatism always has been and always will be a force to reckon with because it most closely approximates the reality of the human condition, based, as it is, on the cumulative judgment and experience of a people. It is the heir, not the apostate, to the accumulated wisdom, morality and faith of the people. … Our challenge is not to retreat to the comfort of self-congratulatory exile but to sweat and bleed — and be victorious — in the arena of public opinion.” –Tony Blankley
“We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times.” –George Washington
source: Patriot Post
Conservative Libertarian Outpost 
November 5, 2008 at 12:56
cont.
Adoring media: “It’s not an overstatement to say that this is what the world wanted.” –NBC’s Dawna Friesen
Distractions?: “Look at how our attention was able to get pulled into pigs and lipstick and plumbers. We got a plumber who’s the third member of the GOP ticket, in effect, and that’s, it’s all of our fault, yes, and there will be time to bloody our own backs with chains, but it’s also the sorry state of our discourse as if, Tavis, we don’t have enough serious issues to concentrate on. I think we may find out it was a movement year, we may find out we all had to step aside and just let it happen, and we may decide we went down too many rat holes of distractions on our way there.” –NBC’s Brian Williams
Unintelligible argument: “If you are hungry, you’re not that interested in freedom of the press. If you are impoverished, you are interested in keeping yourself warm against the cold, and it’s harder to think in Jeffersonian rights-of-man terms. Once those first two freedoms are secured, the others tend to follow. It’s a very conservative argument that without order, nothing else is possible.” –Newsweek editor John Meacham
When redistribution means keeping your own money: “For years, Republicans have argued that the way to help struggling working people is to give more money to the wealthy. Obama is saying that we should cut out the middleman and help working people directly. My hunch is that Obama’s argument will prevail, and that conservatives will then work overtime to try to deny the judgment that the people have rendered.” –Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne
Fairly unbalanced: “[Sarah Palin] brought out the crazy people. That’s what the Republican base is. The Republican base are people who don’t want the queers to get married. They don’t want a woman to have a right to privacy. They want to do away with capital gains taxes, which has nothing whatsoever to do with their life. What Sarah Palin did was bring out the knuckle-draggers, the mouth-breathers…” –CNN’s Mike Malloy
Too little, way too late: “I don’t know what Barack Obama’s worldview is. … And do we know anything about the people who are advising him? … He is principally known through his autobiography and through very aspirational [sic] speeches. … What do we know about the heroes of Barack Obama? –PBS’s Charlie Rose ++ “We don’t know a lot about Barack Obama and the universe of his thinking about foreign policy. … I don’t know what books he’s read. … There’s a lot about him we don’t know. –NBC’s Tom Brokaw
Sub Section: Newspulper Headlines: His Name Is Obama, You Racist Jerk!: “Where’s Osama This Election?” –San Francisco Chronicle Web site
Where’s Joe the Plumber When You Need Him?: “Obama Addresses Overflow Crowds” –U.S. News & World Report Web site
What Would We Do Without Attorneys?: “Attorney Says Killing, Beheading Not ‘Normal'” –Associated Press
We Blame Global Warming: “Winter Comes Early for Spring Awakening” –CBC.ca
Everything Seemingly Is Spinning Out of Control: “Microsoft Says Next Windows Won’t Be as Annoying” –Associated Press
News You Can Use: “Before Killing, Talk of a Shootout” –New Hampshire Union Leader
Bottom Stories of the Day: “Obama Thanks ‘Gracious’ Press” –Agence France-Presse (Thanks to The Wall Street Journal’s James Taranto)
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November 5, 2008 at 13:12
[…] Some reflections on the election … Republicans can console themselves that soon Democrats won’t have George W. Bush to kick around anymore. […]
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November 5, 2008 at 13:15
[…] Some reflections on the election The Democratic temptation will be to interpret this victory as a mandate for renewed liberal government. Republicans hope they do. […]
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