Election 2006. Republicans get their asses handed to them.

Well that was an ass kicking if I ever saw one.

From coast to coast, there were Republicans that just got tossed out, flung out, beat down and otherwise just abused by the electorate. Can't say I didn't see it coming. I wouldn't claim Rush Limbaugh's accuracy but I could see this coming if I was Stevie Wonder. Now, it's time to look at where the wheels came off the bus for the Republicans. Where to start? Where to start?

For the Republican leadership, here's a tip: If I take you to a party and catch you in the corner all over another guy, there's a good chance I'm not driving you home. And if that guy also isn't driving you home at the end, you're walking. The Republican leadership left all of us standing on the side as they tried to court their new guy, the latino vote, which will never vote with them because Republicans aren't giving out freebies. You ticked off enough people across the country that you lost your normal base and when the latino vote didn't suddenly make up the gap, you were screwed. Frankly, you don't know how to act right. Now my question to the Republican leadership is simple: Was this a bad enough beating for you, nationally? Is this going to be a normal thing every two years or will the Republicans remember who brought them to the party and learn to act right before the bulk of their support leaves?

The Democrats walked in and won it the best way possible, by letting the Republicans self destruct and show their own flaws but at the same time, not showing theirs. How many times have you seen the Democratic candidate walk out and say that their going to raise taxes, jack up the troops and give the money to pregnant tree frogs in Brazil, only to get laughed off to defeat on election day? This time, the only thing they did was keep saying there's a better way and keeping their talking points that they do talk about as vanilla as possible. Just smile, nod and shut up. It worked. All that needed to be pointed out was the Republicans had become spending whores, closet gay, page chasing, red state liberals and that's not what the voters asked for.

The strategy to go to Iraq and not follow the Powell doctrine by putting overwhelming force on the ground and then letting the pot simmer until it was ready to boil over was plain stupid. Having a quarter million troops on the ground and locking it up completely would have been better than leaving the borders open so all of the jihadists can slip and keep fighting.

Thinking about borders, how in the hell do you fight a war against possible terrorists coming here to kill us and not close down the most obvious port of ingress? I mean, come on. Do you think that Al Qaeda is going to Fed Ex the bomb materials and send the terrorist into JFK on United or will they pay a coyote a few thousand to haul the whole group across in a van? You lock your doors at night because you don't want people to walk in and steal your things or to kill you. Mexico locks its southern border because they don't want people to come in from Central America but is mad that some of us want to do the same. They don't even want us to stop the illegal alien drug smuggler (Read Ramos and Compean).

There were so many mixed signals that it was almost assured the Republican base that got them there in the past would sit this dance out. The aftermath is that the Republicans have left control of the house to a Northern California liberal Democrat. Now the country will get to see how the California state legislature works everyday. Do they have a plan? I'm sure they do. Will they say it out loud? No way in hell because people would lose their minds and say, "I voted for this @%$!?" Over the next two years, the answer is yep. There's a guest on Air America that is talking about supeonas and investigations of Halliburton in Iraq. All I can say is "let the congressional witchhunt begin!"