The "Thumpin"

People really should not be underestimating what the Emanuel and Schumer team did to "thump" the Bush regime. In a gerrymandered political void, they pulled out not just a one-or-two shot eke out but a full-bore ass-kicking.

They snuck some kind of Trojan horse inside that overblown corpse and watched it disintegrate from within. Amazing...

One big loser was the Rove myth--that is, that Rove's some kind of unbeatable genius. My nomination for geniuses are Rahm Emanuel and Chuck Schumer. Schumer especially seems to be the point man in this counter-attack.

I suggest that the opening volley in the beginning of the end of this Evil Regime (ER) 1.0 was Schumer's Dubai Ports embarrassment for the Bushco. That was a humiliating defeat and it showed that the ER 1.0 was vulnerable.

That vulnerability involved the inherent corruption that floats this regime's boat. That is, Dubai Ports showed that while the Bush talks about defense and terrorism, there are people behind the scenes making money and exploiting the situation for their own enrichment.

People don't like being lied to. Especially when it means killing other people. they also don't like being considered as killers. With the continuous tissue of lies and deception purveyed by the admin for its justification for the so-called war in Iraq and then for staying the course, the American public was left in a continual, uneasy state of confusion. While they are willing to accept a modicum of spin and hyperbole from their leaders, they are not willing to accept outright lies. The Bush admin's lies became so apparent that people finally had enough.

The Foley scandal brought simply reinforced the feeling the growing realization of the public that the Bush admin says one thing but does another. The idea that a man could seemingly champion sexually abused children while secretly engaging in sexually predatory behavior towards adolescent boys surely struck a chord in people. The fact that the Reps attempted to cover up this fact and did so for several years only exacerbated the growing sense that people had that this admin lies and cheats to hypocritically sustain a facade of uprightness but secretly behaves otherwise. Needless to say, the Ted Haggard story deepened these feelings of being deceived.

Exit polls of voters during the election showed that corruption was the #1 point of many voters. Imagine that--while the press was being cornholed in the corner by Rove, the voters were sensing--where else would they have heard about it?--that someone was getting rich.

The war profiteers stink wherever they go: the public caught the odor even though the Press was having connubial bliss with Rove and the Bush honey pot. The Press was surprised--surprised mind you!--that this was even an issue. Well duh--they sure as hell didn't cover it for six years.

The president's recent announcement and press conference on Rumsfeld are a charade. Much like a vampire's epigones sacrifice themselves for their creator, Rumsfeld has taken the poison pill. All of this is a diversion whose point is to give the impression that Bush is willing to compromise and work with the new legislature. Perhaps it's a stalling tactic to slow down investigations of the Cheney/Rumsfeld's cabal.

The Dems should not take the bait here but should aggressively and unstintingly unearth all of those lies and deceptions that represent the true corruption behind this admin. David Corn suggests how these investigations should proceed:

She will also have to make certain that the Democrats proceed with the appropriate inquiries. The goal is to hold the Bush administration accountable without appearing vindictive. (See Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay for a lesson in how not to do this.) My hunch is that many Americans--especially those outside the party faithful whom the Democrats will want to keep on their side for 2008--will prefer to see Democrats producing legislative accomplishments rather than acrimonious investigations. But there are plenty of probes that can proceed. Representative Henry Waxman, the new chairman of the government reform committee, should investigate thoroughly the failed reconstruction in Iraq. An estimated $45 billion of the $80 billion spent on Iraq reconstruction has gone down the drain of fraud and waste. What taxpayer would not like to see this fully investigated?

Pelosi and the Democrats--including those in the Senate, if they gain control there--ought to pick their investigations carefully and strategically. (Yes, this means staying away from any talk of impeachment.) But a prudent approach will hardly limit the opportunities. Take global warming. An investigation of how the Bush administration has suppressed scientific data showing the problem of global warming, coupled with hearings on the administrations refusal to do anything significant to redress this threat, could play well.

As hamlet_machine points out, the interim elections and their result have driven a stake through the Bushco vampyr's heart. Now the Dems need to cut the head off. Until that's accomplished, the vampyr still lives to suck kill and suck dry the life's blood of the republic.

PS Eric Rauchway has a cool historical chart that shows several ways to read the Dem victory:

Here is a chart (data here) showing Democratic representation in the Congress since the New Deal; the black bar indicates the threshold for a majority. It's way too soon to say anything really meaningful about this, but here are two of my thoughts:

1. You could spin this as a narrow, non-ideological, throw-the-bums out victory. On this read, the Congress would have a definite mandate to

a) pursue investigations of corruption in the administration and its predecessor Congresses,
b) restore limits on executive powers,
c) revive reality-based accounting and fiscal responsibility,

but not necessarily a mandate to legislate left-of-center solutions to, e.g., the ongoing imbroglio that is our national health insurance system.

2. Or you could spin this the other way, and say the Republican majorities from 1994 onward were themselves a throw-the-bums out, nonideological response, artificially prolonged by the politicization of 9/11 and the War on Terror. ...