The Morning After

Got done handing out Democratic propaganda at the polls last night, stopped by the office for a quick check of the internet around 7:15. Everything looked good. Tried (unsuccessfully) to ignore all the early exit poll numbers, and Zogby's early call for Kerry.

My trusty insomnia's been acting up of late (by which I mean "for the last six years"), so I was beat. Instead of going to the Democrats' (or as I affectionately call them behind their backs, "the losers"--as in "Hey, I'll be home late tonight--I'm going to work the phone banks for the losers.") "victory celebration," I decided it would be smarter to hit the sack super early and check numbers in the morning. After all, they'd probably still be counting in Florida, no matter how late I stayed up, right? Finished up the final chapter of Liddle-Hart's History of The Second World War (which I highly recommend), and managed to crash at about 9:30, with visions of a good night's sleep and a Kerry victory dancing in my head.

Woke up at 4. Reached over and hit the power on the radio. The voices of the NPR commentators didn't sound exactly chipper...but that could just be exhaustion, right? Then they cut somewhere. What was this? I didn't like the sound of it. Oh, crap, it was John Thune. Oh, shit, it was an acceptance speech. Lots and lots about how he prayed about whether to run again. (Obvious implication: God told him to do it. No wonder he won. Guess we know who's side God is on...)

Oh, shit. Inauspicious beginning, to say the least. Stumbled out of bed...or, rather, stumbled up from futon. Found pants. Turned on phone. Message from Johnny Quest: "I...cannot...believe...this. *click*". Not good. Legs in pants, books in bag, feet in shoes, grab quart of O.J., get to car, get to office.

(Note to self: Grow up. Get life. Way, WAY too old to continue living like grad student... Unseemly.)

Get to office. Turn on machine.

Oh, shit.

Shit, shit, shit.

It doesn't look good for the good guys, now does it? Jesus. Not good at all.

Democratic Underground is already alleging that They Saved Hitler's Brain and it directed some SS androids to steal ballots in Ohio or something like that...

Instapundit looks 100% gloat-free, god bless 'im.

Ugh.

Will it help to note that bad government is the human norm? Yet we survive. Is there any solace to be had by reflecting on the fact that, historically speaking, W is probably a far, FAR better and more honest leader than most? Cold comfort, of course, against a backdrop of Ghengis Khan et. al., but, hey, the guy isn't Satan. He's just a very, very, very bad American president. Which still makes him reasonably, well, o.k. by historical standards, right?

I should shut up now. We haven't lost yet, and, like you, I haven't thought about this enough to have anything intelligent to say about it.

Anyway, hang in there. It ain't over 'til it's over.

And even if it is over, we've survived Andrew Jackson, Harding, Hoover, Nixon, Ronald Reagan...and one term of Shrub. Surely we can survive one more.

Anyway, against the (admittedly largely tragic) backdrop of human history, this probably just ain't that bad.

I'm fairly sure about that, actually.