I thought I'd have more to say about Republicans winning a historic majority in the House, but I think that it was such a foregone conclusion that I've said most of it already. The Republican strategy of blocking government intervention to make the economy stronger worked, helping to extend the gains opposition parties usually see in midterm elections. We can now prepare for two years of frivolous investigations into things like the New Black Panther Party voter intimidation case and Arizona-style immigration legislation. There will be little action on the economy, because the goal of the new Republican majority isn't governing responsibly; it's defeating the president. That kind of singular pursuit of power will have its price.
Republicans, having been thrown into a kind of existential crisis by their defeat in 2008, will claim 2010 as proof that Real America is Republican rather than simply acknowledging that a more Republican America showed up at the polls this time. In reality, ideological purity cost Republicans the Senate, with Sharron Angle and Christine O'Donnell losing in Nevada and Delaware, and Ken Buck in Colorado, Dino Rossi in Washington, and Joe Miller in Alaska looking like they may be headed for defeat. Tea Party candidates like Rand Paul and Marco Rubio won in part by reassuring voters they were more conventional than they seemed.
The real tragedy of yesterday's Senate races was the loss of Russ Feingold, who was defeated by a candidate incapable of answering basic policy questions. It's a sad irony that the conscience of the Democratic Party on matters of executive power and military intervention would be brought down by an anti-Democratic wave angry with Washington incumbents and claiming to be in favor of smaller government. If anyone deserved to survive the Republican wave, it was him.
