The Blissful Aftermath Continues (Wednesday's Second Hour)

Hi all. We start the hour with breaking news again, though I say it's done being "breaking". Ed Henry points out that Allen's presidential aspirations have crashed and burned. Aw. Couldn't have happened to a nicer racist. Word in the blogworld is that Allen's camp might have been behind those robocalls, which may have been a big motivator for him conceding rather than let there be time for investigation. I guess we may never know. To take a look at how this all breaks down Anderson goes over to Jeff Greenfield at the touchscreen and poor Jeff has a little trouble. Darn that technology! He pulls it together though and then goes on to say that historically speaking, sometimes divided government is more productive. Anderson chimes in that "maybe the founding fathers had it right after all." Well of course they did. Then Anderson corrects himself and say, "maybe we're getting it right." Yes we are. Finally. I tell you, if this election would have gone the other way my respect for the American people would have been at about nil. I'll never understand all the support for Bush in 2004, but now it's clear the American people do get it right eventually. It just takes longer than I'd like.

Next up we have a John King piece on Bush's coming challenge of compromising with the democrats. It looks like some things like the minimum wage raise might go through okay, but the tax cuts are going of be an area of contention. However, John doesn't think things are going to be as gridlocked as some people say.

The Gerg then returns to the studio and declares that he thinks what just happened was a healthy, cleansing election. Anderson expands on the point, noting it forces both sides to reinvent themselves. The Gerg points out that the republicans had really let arrogance creep into their party. Um, ya think? Anderson is confused at how the democrats can change Iraq and The Gerg explains that now they have the bully pulpit with chairmanships. Plus they don't have to hold hearings in the basement anymore. Actual rooms, yay!

Transitioning now to John Roberts on the phone from Iraq. I'm beginning to wonder about poor John. Maybe he wants to be over there, but it seems to me he's being marginalized at the network. Are they pushing him out? I mean, he's not even on camera now, though that's probably a logistical thing. John has the scoop from our military regarding the Rumsfeld sacking and apparently everyone is shocked. As to be expected, a lot of people don't want to talk about it, but John said one young enlisted man was ticked that Rumsfeld isn't completing the job. We then get Michael Ware live who informs us that we should look for the insurgents to use propaganda to try to capitalize on all this news coming out of Washington.

On now to a taped interview with John Murtha who fears that despite the changes, the policy will stay the same. He believes history will not judge Rumsfeld kindly and he defines success in Iraq as stability, which he thinks can only be attained through redeployment. Anderson wants to know if Iraq has set America back like Vietnam did and Murtha responds with a big yes. I think Iraq has probably set us back more than any of us even realize yet.

Next up we have a Candy Crowley piece on 2008 prospects. 2008? Geez, don't give us a breather or anything. Of course no one is copping to running yet, but is seems as if everyone is "thinking" of running. On the republican side the front runners seem to be McCain and Giuliani. McCain might have some trouble though since he wants to escalate the war. Plus, despite what the media thinks, he's more two-face than maverick. On the democratic side there is of course Hillary and then all the not-Hillarys, like John Edwards and Evan Bayh. I'm still holding out for a Feingold run, but I could definitely get behind Edwards. I won't vote for Hillary in the primary.

Transitioning now to a Tom Foreman piece on evangelical voters. Apparently 29% of them voted democratic. Yes! Even the Christian Right is waking up. To discuss this, we have a taped interview with Andrew Sullivan who points out that a lot of them suspect they've been had. Andrew states that you can't scare your base every time and that Rove is a failure and not a genius. I just realized that the democrats actually never try to scare their base. Although at this point all they have to do is point at the republicans and we can see why it's important to vote democratic. That'll do it for the show.

Screencaps by stillife.

So, since Candy brought it up, who's your pick for 2008 and why?