Jeff Ellis: It's Impossible To Start A Fire If You Have No Desire To Burn

From the Better Late Than Never Department: Saxby Chambliss wins!

I'm a little bit late reporting this but that's what happens when you get blinded by all the shock and awe of the Obama Nation.

In Georgia, Republican Saxby Chambliss won the run-off election for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.  This may come as a surprise to those of you who have spent the past few weeks being steadily brainwashed by the "Everyone-Has-Embraced-The-Party-Of-Obama" drumbeat that has been coming from the mainstream media.

Liberals, you may remember, hate Chambliss because he defeated incumbent Democrat Max Cleland back in 2002.  Cleland was disabled veteran of the Viet Nam War and hence, it was felt that Chambliss had no right to criticize the man's politics.

(Of course, some would claim that this is the exact same attitude that certain Republicans took concerning Barack Obama's attacks on John McCain during the presidential campaign.  And to those people, I say "Shut up!"  I say this because, essentially, they're right and I wish they were not.)

Anyway, Chambliss ended up getting forced into a run-off election because a Libertarian candidate won enough votes to narrowly prevent Chambliss from getting 50% of the vote back in November.  There was a lot of speculation, in the press, that Chambliss would end up losing to Democrat Jim Martin. 

If this had happened, the Democrats would have ended up with 59 seats in the Senate.  Then, if by some act of malice on the part of God, Al Franken ended up winning the recount up in Minnesota, the Democrats would have ended up with a filibuster-proof majority.

Luckily, this did not happen. 

Instead, Chambliss won the run-off and, with 57% of the vote, he won rather easily.

(That said, I'm sure that, if pressed, the Democrats can probably find at least one or two Republicans willing to help them end a filibuster.  After all, Susan Collins was reelected.)

To his credit, President-elect Barack Obama did not campaign in Georgia for Martin or against Chambliss.  Especially at this point, with the country divided four ways between those who love Obama, those who like Obama, those who wish they could like Obama but just can't, and those who hate Obama, it's a good idea for him to, if nothing else, pretened to be above such partisan squabbles.

(By the way, I'm in the third group.  I keep trying to like Barack Obama but the whole messiah thing keeps getting in the way.  That said, I don't hate him.  I'm saving that for the second term.)

Former President Bill Clinton (who, at this point, is about as relavent to American life as the hula hoop) did come down to Georgia to campaign for Martin.  Sarah Palin flew in to say a few good words for Chambliss.

In the end, Chambliss won.

Congratulations.

Now, if we can just get this stupid recount finished up in Minnesota, we can finally put 2008 behind us.

Celebrate the moment and not the man.

I had an interesting conversation at work today regarding last night's presidential election.  My friend Theresa, who is African-American, put it best when she said, "I revel in the history but I wish the history had been made by someone else."

That's what it all comes down to.  Celebrate the fact that this country has finally reached a point where a black man can not only run a serious campaign for the presidency but actually win the office with a landslide vote.  That is a truly inspiring thing and it should be celebrated.

However, celebrating the importance of this election does not necessarily require one to celebrate Barack Obama at the same time.

Theresa went on to comment on the fact that everyone assumed that she was a Democrat simply because of her race.  And I have to admit that I was guilty of doing that myself.  Until our conversation today, I would never have guessed that she's a Republican.

She made another point that's been overlooked so far in the coverage of Obama's victory.  By being the first to break that color barrier, Obama will now be the standard by which all future African-American presidential candidates will be judged.

That's a lot of responsibility that has (rather unfairly) been placed on Obama's shoulders.

Hopefully, he'll be up to the task.

As of right now, Barack Obama is literally a man of mystery.  I could not begin to tell you what he truly believes.  I can not begin to venture any sort of guess into what type of President he'll be.  Will he be the radical firebrand that gave the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic Convention?  Will he be the elitist snob who views anyone who disagrees with him as being "bitter?"  Or will he be the moderate who was on display during the final month of the presidential campaign?

We know that Barack Obama is a historic figure.  But what else do we know?  Quite simply, once you move beyond the fact that he's America's first black President, just who the Hell is Barack Obama?

Say what you will about John McCain, we know what inspired him to enter public service and eventually run for the presidency.  We know who his mentors were.  We know who his heroes are.

Beyond the personal ambition that all successful politicians possess, what inspired Barack Obama to run for the presidency in the first place?  Don't get me wrong.  Ambition has been a motivating force for every man and woman who has ever run for the presidency.  The problem is when that motivating force turns out to be ambition alone.

We can all agree that this is a great moment in American history.

But, as far as I'm concerned, the jury is still out on Barack Obama himself. 

The Finale Of A Long Two Years

There's a possibly apocryphal story about a woman in Manhattan who, in the 1980s, said to a friend of hers, "I can't believe that Ronald Reagan won the election.  Nobody I know voted for him."

That probably best sums up how I feel right about now as it truly starts to sink in that Barack Obama is our next President.

On the plus side, this would seem to indicate that, as far as national politics is concerned, Dallas is the new Manhattan.

On another note, during all of that mad blogging about this election night, I actually posted this blog's 1,000th entry without even realizing it.

Thank you to everyone who has read this blog over the past two years and taken the time to either leave a comment or link back to me.  Many of you have agreed with me and quite a few of you haven't.  But, regardless of your own personal opinions, almost all of you have replied to me with the type of intelligence, wit, and graciousness that we often wish our presidential candidates would occasionally display out on that campaign trail.

To a large extent, this blog has been dominated by the 2008 presidential election.  And now that the election has come to a close, so has a chapter in this blog's life. 

As for what will dominate this blog in the future, your guess is as good as mine but I look forward to finding out.  As we face the uncertainty of the Age of Obama, I am glad to say that neither this blog nor myself is going away.

If Barack Obama and I agree on anything, it is that the voice of the people cannot be silenced.

(Of course, Obama might benefit in the future from actually listening to that voice...)

Again, thank you for reading and I hope that the experience of posting the next 1,000 entries is as enjoyable and rewarding as the first thousand.

And, on that note, I wish everyone goodnight and good luck.

Some more thoughts on the Obama Victory

I meant to go to bed after listening to John McCain's concession speech (which was typically gracious though I have to admit that I was hoping to hear some profanity) but I'm too wired.  So, I've still got the election coverage on the TV.  However, I've muted it.  Barack Obama's about to give his acceptance speech and I really have no interest in hearing about "change" or anything else about what "we" can do.

That doesn't mean that I don't respect Barack Obama's accomplishment.

It just means that I have four years to listen to him.  Tonight, I need a break from Barack Obama.

As of right now, my main hope is that Barack Obama governs in the same manner that he campaigned.  By that, I mean that I hope he does so as a Republican...

Obama's on stage now.  Even though I have the TV on mute, I can see that the pavlovian dogs that make up his fan base are currently chanting.  Gee, I wonder if the chant has anything to do with change.

I may have to unmute the speech.  Whenever one watches Obama without the sound, one runs the risk of being hypnotized by the rhythmic twitching of his head upon his scrawny neck.

Yeah, I decided that it wouldn't kill me to be a little bit petty tonight.  Listen, the guy currently has 338 electoral votes.  That's 338 more than I'll ever receive.  Once you cross that magic 300 mark, you lose all right to get upset when someone mentions your Mickey Mouse ears or your freakishly small head.

There's only one race remaining that I really care about and that is Minnesota's battle between Sen. Norm Coleman and Al Franken.  Latest reports would seem to indicate that Independent Dean Barkley (yet another one of those damned ex-Reform Party folks who insists on ruining an otherwise perfectly good election) is pulling enough support away from Coleman that Franken might win election to the U.S. Senate.

On this site, I've said that we who oppose the Democrats must be careful not to allow that opposition to become hatred.

For Al Franken -- a man who has built his political career by appealing to hate -- I think we can make an exception.

Actually, it just occured to me.  Now that Barack Obama is president-elect, shouldn't he be preparing to go to Afghanistan and personally track down Osama Bin Laden?  I mean, that wasn't just all empty rhetoric was it?  No, not from the messiah!

Best of luck, Barack.  For the sake of the future of this country, I hope you're a good President.  As someone who believes in democracy, I will respect you because you are President.  As an American citizen, I will pay my taxes and I will obey the laws you pass even if I disagree with them.

If I ever find out that someone is planning to shoot you, I'll call the Secret Service.

I do not hate Barack Obama.

I will not hate Barack Obama.

But, as I watch his acceptance speech here, I have to admit that I can not bring myself to like him.

And that's okay.

That's the great thing about America.

We don't have to like our leaders.

That's why we always get the option to vote against them in the next election.

Election Night -- Obama Wins.

10:01 pm -- And California has put Barack Obama over the top!  He's been elected.  It's over!  (Not the country.  Just the election.)  Well, congratulations to him.  That's about all I can really summon up to say about this guy.

There's going to be a lot of discussion about how Barack Obama won and why John McCain lost.  I'm not going to indulge in any of that right now.

As I conclude this liveblogging (and hello to my friend Lorelei!), the electoral count stands at Obama 297 and McCain 145.  There's still a lot of elections left to be decided and I'll probably continue to watch the coverage through the night.  McCain will pick some more electoral votes but this is a landslide victory for Obama.

To my fellow McCain supporters, all I can say is "Don't give up the ghost."  We lost tonight but Obama's now in a position where he will have to keep winning for the next four years. 

He'll either grow in office.

Or he'll be the next Jimmy Carter.

(Carter's campaign took off with a win in Iowa as well...)

Until tomorrow, keep the faith.

Election Night, Part Seven

9:33 pm -- Okay, I'm back.  Mike Johanns has won Nebraska's open senate seat -- hey, a Republican won something!  Even better, Johanns will be replacing Chuck Hagel.

9:34 -- Apparently, Barack Obama is on the verge of winning Florida.  Which will lead a lot of people to speculate that McCain should have selected Charlie Crist for Vice President.  Actually, I don't think it would have made a difference.  Obama won the minute the stock market crashed.

9:35 -- Sarah Palin's come under some criticism as of late.  A lot of this criticism has come from "McCain campaign insiders."  Sour grapes, my friends.  It's not Palin's fault that she turned out to be a better campaigner than John McCain.  It's also not her fault that people don't vote for Vice President.

9:37 -- Sen. Harry Reid is on television right now.  He's saying that this election is a mandate for -- can  you guess what it's a mandate for?  That's right!  Change!  Harry Reid is the best ventriloquist's dummy to ever win election to the U.S. Senate.

9:38 -- Nancy Pelosi was standing next to Reid.  The expression on her face read, "So, does this mean I actually get to be in charge of something next year?"

9:39 -- Meanwhile, John Murtha -- a formerly respectable politician turned partisan hack -- is apparently in a tough fight for reelection.  I don't think Murtha will lose -- not with the way Obama apparently dominated in Pennsylvania -- but it's still nice to know that he's sweating on an overwhelmingly Democratic night.

9:40 -- I received an e-mail a few minutes ago from someone suggesting that Jeb Bush should be the next Republican presidential nominee.  Uhmm, let's not go there.  Seriously, it may be time for an election that doesn't feature a Bush or a Clinton.

9:42 -- Virginia has just been called for Obama.  The electoral count is now 220/138 Obama.  The Virginia victory isn't quite as much of a shock as pundits are making it out to be.  Virginia's been tending Democratic for quite some time.  It probably didn't hurt that Mark Warner was running for the U.S. Senate this year.

9:43 -- That said, I do remember that, at one time, I ridiculed Obama for selecting Joe Biden for V.P. over Tim Kaine.  My logic?  Obama needed Kaine on his ticket to carry Virginia.  Apparently, I was wrong.

9:46 -- Honestly, the only reason I'm watching the returns at this point is to see whether or not Norm Coleman defeats Al Franken in Minnesota.

9:47 -- Over on Fox News, Karl Rove is taking this all rather well.  I imagine it probably helps that he's 1) not involved with the McCain campaign and 2) going to pick up his paycheck whether his party wins or doesn't.

9:50 -- I hate to admit it but I think that Mitt Romney might have actually had a better chance against Obama as far as the economy is concerned.

9:51 -- Chris Shays has officially lost in Connecticut.  Oh well.  I was never a big Chris Shays fan.

9:52 -- Now that we've seen that the country is ready for a black president, maybe the country will actually be ready to accept the idea of a black Republican.

9:53 -- Brit Hume just asked, "Where does the Republican Party go from here?"  Straight to 2010.

9:55 -- Oh well.  At least the French will love us again...uhmm, right?

9:56 -- John McCain has won South Dakota.  Yeah, I know that doesn't mean anything but still...

9:57 -- Actually, the polls are about to close in California.  I doubt it will take long for that state to be awarded to Obama.  That will put Obama over the top and I'll be able to get some rest.

Election Night, Part Six

8:53 pm --  I was just checking out the Texas Secretary of State's web page.  Judging from the results that have come in so far, it looks like the Democrats might actually have a pretty good night here in Texas.

8:57 -- The electoral college total is now Obama--200, McCain--124.  At this point, I'm just happy that McCain will, at the very least, break the 100 mark.

9:00 pm -- Texas, to no one's surprise, has gone to McCain.  No surprise there.  However, the Democrats are showing some strength on the local level in Texas.  But there's nothing wrong with that, really.  From a purely political point of view, it's boring living in a one party state.

9:01 pm -- Senate race totals: John Cornyn was reelected in Texas.  (But not be a huge margin, it looks like.)  Max Baucus was reelected in Montana.  Tom Harkin (who ran for President in 1992 by screaming "Bullshit!" at his rallies) has been reelected in Iowa.  And in Mississippi, the other senate race has been decided for Republican Roger Wicker.

9:03 -- Wicker defeated former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove.  Musgrove, before he was defeated for reelection a few years back, is another southerner who was once mentioned as a future president.  However, after tonight, I guess we won't be seeing Ronnie Musgrove debating Al Franken and Mark Warner in 2016.

9:05 -- The latest reports seem to indicate that the McCain campaign has all but conceded the election to Obama.  I'm about to concede this liveblog as things are getting a bit dull and depressing.

9:06 -- Fox News has now retracted their earlier declaration of a victory for Roger Wicker.  So, maybe there's hope yet for the Musgrove Presidential Campaign.

9:09 -- Obama picked up Iowa.  McCain picked up Utah.  With only 2% of the vote in, Obama is leading in McCain's home state of Arizona.  Hmm...it was a lot funnier when that happened to Al Gore to tell you the truth.

9:11 -- Is Obama's success a result of voters rejecting the Republican party or voters rejecting the administration of George W. Bush?  I have a really bad feeling that the answer is probably both.

9:14 -- I'm still watching the election returns because I'm a glutton for punishment.

9:15 -- McCain has won Mississippi.  Good people come from Mississippi.  (And she knows who she is...)

I need a break from all this.  I'm going to spend the next fifteen to twenty minutes listening to the Guess Who.  Then I'll once again brave watching these election returns...

Election Night, Part Five

8:18 -- Obama has now picked up Ohio.  In my last post, I said that Michigan had been called for Obama.  Apparently, I was incorrect.  Not that it matters.  It appears that the presidency is now out of McCain's reach.

8:20 -- Damn.   Now, I've got to move to Northern Ireland.  I promised I'd leave the country if Obama won and a promise is a promise.

8:22 -- After all, I can't continue to ridicule Susan Sarandon for constantly threatening to move to Canada unless I'm willing to put my own words into action.

8:24 -- I won't lie and say that it doesn't hurt to see my candidate being so overwhelmingly rejected.  But that's politics and there's nothing to be gained by dwelling in bitterness.  That's what kept the Democrats from winning in 2004 and it's what can potentially keep the Republicans from winning in 2012.

8:27 -- In the end, the winner of this election will be my president regardless of whether or not I voted for him.  If you truly care about the future of this country, you can't give into the temptation to hate those who disagree with you.

8:29 -- That sound you hear is probably the sound of thousands of conservative bloggers calling me a "pussy."

8:30 -- As a sign of my political genius, allow me to remind my readers that last year -- around this time -- I predicted that Bill Richardson would be the Democratic nominee.  I also warned my fellow right-wing extremists that Richardson would be extremely difficult to beat.

8:32 -- Louisiana has been called for McCain.  To be honest, I always thought that Louisiana would be the southern state most likely to go for Obama.

8:34 -- As Barack Obama celebrates his apparent success, I would remind him of the words of famed highwayman Dennis Moore on Monty Python's Flying Circus: "Blimey, this redistribution of wealth is more complicated than I thought..."

8:35 -- Fred Barnes is apparently having a meltdown on Fox News.  Bill Kristol seems to be taking it better.

8:44 -- Jack Reed has been reelected to the U.S. Senate from Rhode Island.  The electoral college stands at Obama 200, McCain 90.

Election Night, Part Four

7:44 pm -- Saxby Chambliss has been reelected in Georgia.  You may remember that Chambliss was first elected in 2002 when he defeated Max Cleland.  At the time, Chambliss was condemned for running a negative campaign against a war hero who had been terribly injured during the Viet Nam War.  Apparently, that's a bad thing when Republicans do it.

7:45 -- That's a good name, isn't it?  Seriously, when your known as "Saxby Chambliss," you're pretty much destined to win a senate seat in the deep south, aren't you?

7:46 -- More bad news for McCain.  The Democrats are picking up house seats in Florida.

7:48 -- Well, one house seat.  Tom Feeney was defeated.  However, it also looks like Ric Keller and (sadly) Mario Diaz-Balart might be in some trouble as well.

7:53 -- Rep. Chris Shays is in trouble in Connecticut.  It's not shaping up to be a good night for campaign finance reform advocates, is it?  McCain is running behind Obama in the electoral college and if Obama's elected, Russ Fiengold will have to wait at least 8 years before he can run for President.

7:57 -- On Fox News, they're killing time by debating whether or not America is now a center-left country.  I think America is a center-bandwagon country.

7:58 -- A center-bandwagon country is a country where people panic far too easily and embrace the easiest solution regardless of whether that solution will actually work.

8:00 -- Wisconsin and New Mexico have been called for Obama.  McCain picked up North Dakota.  God bless ya, North Dakota.  Obama, however, has taken New York, Michigan, Rhode Island, and Ohio.  McCain picked up Wyoming.  Oh, wait a minute.  Ohio has not been called for Obama.  Still, I have a feeling that Ohio will go for Obama.  Anyway, the electoral total is 183 Obama and 81 McCain.

8:03 -- Minnesota has gone for Obama.  Obama and Al Franken in one night?  Okay, Minnesota -- you are now officially the most overrated state in the union.  Vermont, hand over the crown.

8:04 -- Obama strategist David Axelrod is on Fox.  He says that the country is embracing "change."  Of course, that's what the country did when they elected Warren Harding in 1920 and Jimmy Carter in 1976.

8:05 -- In the Senate races, Wyoming's John Barasso (a Republican) has been reelected.  Wyoming had two senate races this year, actually.  Another Republican, Mike Enzi, won that second race.  In Kansas, Pat Roberts has been reelected.  Love ya, Kansas!  Meanwhile, Democrat Tim Johnson has been reelected in South Dakota.  (South Dakota, why can't you be more like North Dakota?)  Another Democrat -- Tom Udall -- has picked up a former Republican seat in New Mexico.  Republican Jeff Sessions has been reelected in Alabama.  Thad Cochran, another Republican, has won in Mississippi.  (I love Thad Cochran's name.  It just sounds cool.)  Mississippi, like Wyoming, also had two senate races this year.  The other race -- Republican Roger Wicker and Democrat Ronnie Musgrove -- is too close to call.

8:10 -- There are apparently five toss-up Senate races left to be decided.  The Democrats have to pick up all five to reach a 60-member majority.  I'm pretty sure that the Democrats will win in Colorado (where another Udall is running), Alaska, and maybe Minnesota.

8:12 -- A Republican, right now I feel like I'm Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments and Edward G. Robinson's standing behind me shouting, "Where's your God now!?"

Election Night, Part 3

7:00 -- Polls are closing.  Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, Maine, New Jersey, Delaware, and Connecticut just went for Obama.  McCain picked up Oklahoma.  Obama now has 77 electoral votes.  McCain has 28.

7:02 -- Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma and Joe Biden have both been reelected to the U.S. Senate.  Frank Lautenberg has also been reelected (at the age of 84) in New Jersey.  Susan Collins beat back Tom Allen in Maine.  Collins is one of those Republicans who tends to drive Republican activists crazy.

7:04 -- Mitch McConnell's reelection bid is still too close to call.  The same can be said for Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina and Saxby Chambliss in Georgia.  There's a possibility that the Libertarian candidate could take enough votes to force Chambliss into a run-off with his Democratic opponent.

7:07 -- McCain just took Tennessee.  Honestly, I expected Tennessee to be a bit more marginal for McCain.

7:08 -- With the lack of any news to report, Megyn Kelly is currently flirting with Brit Hume on Fox News.

7:10 -- Apparently, Mitch McConnell managed to pull out a victory in Kentucky.  However, Elizabeth Dole has been defeated by Kay Hagan in North Carolina.  That doesn't bode well for McCain's chances of carrying North Carolina.

7:12 -- The Democrats need to pick up seven more senate seats to have enough votes to block a filibuster.  I'm actually rooting for them.  If the Democrats have all the power, they also have to shoulder all of the blame.

7:14 -- Obama just picked up New Hampshire.  Again, no real surprise.  New Hampshire became a Democratic state around the same time that West Virginia became a Republican one.

7:23 -- The Democrats picked up another senate seat.  Jeanne Shaheen has apparently defeated Sen. John Sununnu in New Hampshire.  You may remember Shaheen's husband as the gentleman who suggested, during the primaries, that Obama was a drug dealer.  That should make for some fun state dinners, eh?

7:25 -- Some news organizations have called Pennsylvania for Obama.  They're doing this based on exit polling as opposed to actual votes.  This is one reason why a lot of people don't trust the mainstream media.  That said, I'd be surprised if Obama didn't win Pennsylvania.  Why McCain wasted his time on a state that is extremely Democratic in national elections is one of those questions that I'm sure I'll spend several hours pondering once this election is over with.

7:28 -- Bizarrely enough, it seems like the defeated Republican senators are almost all bipartisan moderate types.  I wouldn't read too much into that, though.  It's just shaping up to be a bad night for Republicans all around, regardless of where they fall in the ideological divide.

7:30 -- Younger voters, the elections results would seem to indicate, are overwhelmingly Democratic.  Fortunately, younger voters eventually grow up.

7:31 -- Either that or else they become humorless socialists.

7:32 -- Obama has now officially taken Pennsylvania.  McCain has taken Arkansas.  I'm sure that the McCain campaign would be willing to swap.

7:33 -- In the Senate races, John F. Kerry has been reelected.  Arkansas's Mark Pryor has also been reelected.  His only opponent was the Green nominee.  Arkansas has a Green Party?  As well, the loathsome Richard Durbin of Illinois has been reelected.  Lamar Alexander wins in Tennessee.  All else is too close to call.

7:36 -- The electoral vote stands at 103 Obama and 84 McCain.

7:38 -- Who did Joe The Plumber vote for?  And how is old Bob Barr doing?  Not too well, I hope.  My hope is that Barr will do badly enough that his Reform Party campaign managers will quickly be run out of the LP.

7:40 -- McCain wasted a lot of time in Pennsylvania.  However, McCain did just pick up Georgia.  Okay, this is getting depressing and I need another cigarette...(This election night is going to kill me!)