"Oh great swami," many people say to me, "what will happen in 2007?"
And unto them I say: "I know not much. But I can guess a few things and see what sticks."
Chief among those things is this: now that Democrats have managed to take both houses of Congress, the Republican minority will become the party of martyrs. Clearly, they will claim, the Murkan People didn’t understand that the Democrats will wield their power like unto that lady who always works at the Registry of Motor Vehicles and dangle the tidbits of power down to the poor dogs on the floor solely in order to taunt them as they legislate into being a left wing utopia wherein they will destroy small businesses through creating a minimum wage people can live on, force everybody to have a gay marriage, and make James Dobson swear allegiance to Baal, Barack Obama and Noam Chomsky.
Exhibit A is already extant– the very fine Talking Points Memo Muckraker site features a rundown of a new letter from several GOPers pre-complaining about the "abusive ways" of the Democrats. Pretty rich when you look back (cue montage to "My Way") on all the great moments from the past six years when the right-wing Repubs held votes open past the allotted time until they’d strong-armed the weaker-willed among their number into folding, refused to collaborate on legislation or, you know, let the Democrats read it, refused to give Democrats committee rooms, and generally ratcheted up everything the Democrats had ever done in the past in a stunning display of undignified power-grabbing that makes Mr. Burns look like Popeye.
All that is forgotten and, they hope, forgiven. But unlike their imaginings of Democratic tyranny-to-come, we all have actually seen what happens when you let the elephant’s trunk in the door. Nevermind the rest of Dumbo, pretty soon you’ve got those Shriners in the little cars careening around the furniture. And once that’s starts, you just can’t ever get rid of them.
