What a difference a fortnight makes.

Remember all the way back to the weekend before the election, when the main topic of conversation on cable news, talk radio and the “blogosphere” was John Kerry’s “botched joke” about President Bush? Kerry had said to a group of college students that without hard work and a good education, “you get stuck in Iraq,” implying that military service is the last refuge of the uneducated, disadvantaged and vulnerable among us. This set off a firestorm of protest in the New Media which only grew when instead of apologizing, Kerry lashed out at his right-wing enemies for kicking up so much dust over what they surely knew was a screwed up punch line about Bush’s brain.

Many claimed, myself included, that Kerry’s comments had laid bare not only his contempt for the military, but that of the party whose standard he bore in the 2004 Presidential campaign. You could almost feel the tide turning against the Democrats as the incident headed into its second full news cycle. By the Friday before Election Day, a certain giddiness prevailed at the thought of millions of Republicans and even independents running to the voting booth to vote Republican, so provoked were they by Kerry’s comments.

Polls that came out in the days before Election Day seemed to show the race tightening and Republican enthusiasm building, which only reinforced the conviction that Kerry’s slip had doomed not only his 2008 presidential aspirations but the Dems 2006 bid as well. Predictions of G.O.P. victory seemed, well, plausible.

And now, barely two weeks later, as the dust continues to settle from the wreckage of Election Day 2006, Kerry is not the only Senator whose presidential ambitions have been dented or destroyed in this election cycle, though perhaps the only Democratic one.   Senators (but not for long) George Allen and Bill Frist, both rising stars of the GOP as recently as 2004, are finished, one by incompetence in managing his campaign, the other by mis-managing the Senate.   Rick Santorum, conservative purist and a leader of his party in the Senate, was sidelined by a 17-point whupping in Pennsylvania by a nobody with a revered name.  And John McCain, for all of his fundraising prowess and fidelity to the war on terror, may see his presidential hopes dashed by Republican primary voters,  a significant portion of which mistrusts (and even reviles) him.

And this is the least of the GOP's problems.  Now they find themselves short of the 50-yard line in the Senate and, for the first time in a dozen years, in the minority in the House as well.  Some say that being in the minority will enhance the GOP's presidential prospects, but that is true only if and to the extent the Democrats let out their inner wild-child and manage to remind voters why they (the Democrats) can't be trusted with power.   In any event, whatever benefits loss of Congress may bring Republicans in the next two years, power and influence are not among them.

This is what happens when you depend on John Kerry!  He can't even be trusted to botch a joke well enough to save Republicans from themselves.

* * *

In the wake of November 7, there are a few heartening observations for conservatives. First and foremost, the sun (or at least the light) continues to appear most mornings, dollars still spend like money, and the Republic didn’t collapse.

Second, conservatives blamed themselves, not their enemies (at least not their enemies outside of the GOP) for Republican losses. While self-blame can lead to endless recrimination, it seems a lot healthier than scapegoating the media, corrupt local election officials, rigged voting machines and the other party in general. This didn’t work very well for the Democrats in 2000 and 2002.  (Although it might be said to have worked in 2004, given that now they have their power back).

Third, conservatives didn’t lecture the American voters for their stupidity, or claim that they have been misinformed or misled. In fact, a hallmark of conservatism is, or at least ought to be, a recognition that the voters are always right—even if they break our hearts. And since so many conservatives now admit that the Republican majority had this coming, it’s hard to be terribly broken hearted about the election results. (Except of course for the loss of the above-mentioned Rick Santorum, who I highlighted in these pages before the election).

While pundits continue to analyze the exit polls and other aliquot data for clues as to what really happened on Election Day, there is at least one thing we know for sure—the electorate does not reward Republicans for acting like Democrats. Spending like Democrats. Earmarking like Democrats. Flirting with women like Democrats. Propositioning men like Democrats.  Consorting with crooks like Democrats. And pandering like Democrats.
 
Only Democrats can do that and get away with it.

Sure, America's inability to win the war, and Bush’s failure to explain why, was likely the largest single factor in the GOP losses. But come on. The GOP lost Montana.  Does anyone think Republicans would have lost Montana on the war issue alone? No, the party lost Montana, and Ohio and Virginia for the Senate, and a whole bunch of House districts, because Republicans tried to do what the voters normally elect Democrats to do. 

The world isn't fair.  Democrats can get elected pretending to be right-wingers and then govern like centrists.  Republicans have to govern like conservatives in order to be credible when they campaign like centrists.  Thats just the way it is, and there is nothing we can do about it.
 
So we may as well learn this lesson, lick our wounds, and sit back and watch what the Democrats do now that they are in control.  And what the Republicans do now that they’re not.