From Talking Points Memo -

If what happened on Election Day is any indication, however, "average Americans" don't "cringe" at the party's ideas at all. Exit polls show that the Dems won the popular vote with a clear majority, 53%-45%.

and from DailyKos

Democrats won the popular vote for the Senate by an overwhelming 11.6% margin - 55%/42.4%. "Bipartisanship" and "compromise" are today's buzzwords, when the phrase on everybody's lips should be "mandate for dramatic change" - especially in Iraq.

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Did any of you pay attention to the Faux News Talkers in the lead up the election?

Nancy Pelosi, most liberal person ever! Tester, Webb, any and every Democrat was the biggest commie pinko fag, who was going to surrender the USA to Al Queda once sworn into office.

Then after the election what do these same lying scumbags say? Well, all these Democrats are really conservatives, they ran on no ideas, there is no mandate for them to govern as Democrats, blah, blah, blah...

But then we have these exit polls --

IRAQ APPROVAL: More than half of voters, 55 percent, said they disapproved of the war in Iraq, and they were far more likely to vote for Democratic House candidates. A quarter of conservatives and almost as many Republicans disapprove.

U.S. SECURITY: Six in 10 said the war in Iraq has not made the United States more secure. Those voters were far more inclined to vote for Democratic candidates. More than eight in 10 Democrats and seven in 10 independents felt that way.

BRING TROOPS HOME: More than half of voters, 55 percent, favored bringing some or all troops home from Iraq. A fourth said the U.S. should withdraw some troops and three in 10 said all troops should be withdrawn. More than eight in 10 Democrats said some or all troops should be withdrawn while six in 10 independents felt that way. A fourth of Republicans want to withdraw some or all of the troops from Iraq.

IRAQ's IMPORTANCE AS AN ISSUE: Two-thirds of voters said Iraq was very or extremely important to them. Those who said they were "extremely" concerned were more likely to vote Democratic.

So, voters knew what they wanted, knew who was running on that platform, and the Democrats won the election nationally by 8%! Which compared with Bush's re-elction mandate of 3% over John Kerry (who ran the worst Presidential campaign ever) is nearly triple that, so it is time for the Democrats to spend their political capital.

The first 100 hours will see the Democrats pushing their agenda on social and economic justice, and finally having a real debate on the Iraq War. We'll see a return of congressional oversight, and we may finally get the Phase 2 investigation released; that's the one that was looking into if and how the President manipulated the intelligence on Iraq to get America into a war that the same President has shown no interest in trying to win.

 

An aside, Halliburton is spinning off KBR, the contracting firm that has been committing so many crimes in Iraq. The IPO is coming up soon. I wonder if many average Americans will be calling their brokers to buy that stock?