R.I.P. Reality, Nov 3, 2003

My first instinct is to say fuck it. You people can have the stupid country if that's how you want it. Just try a little harder to keep the terrorists from away from New York, and I won't care how fucking miserable your godforsaken life in Nebraska becomes.

My second instinct is to say every Democrat needs to devote his or her life for the next four years to DESTROYING these people. Not persuading others of their venality and falsehoods, but DESTROYING them with everything we can possibly muster, no matter how debased or cheap. The new political calculus has no room for virtue.

My third instinct is a tad more reflective, and in that I am helped by this William Saletan piece from earlier. It makes me realize that the next Democratic party has a long way to go, and a lot to realize still about how to talk to 280 million people these days. It also makes me acknowledge that if the country isn't a mess after another four years of this, then I really need to rethink my views on the universe. But I'm pretty sure it will be a mess, and so we should start thinking now about what we can learn from this experience. We all saw what happened to the Democratic party this year. Obviously, it had its issues, but we can't let them convince us we didn't see it, as they will mercilessly attempt to do over the coming years.

Patience, my friends, patience.