The bad news: a short-term one party rule.
The good news: nature abhors a vacuum and a new party would form to advance the group interests that the Dems simply cannot advance, due to their current demographic base

Do you really think the Pelosi, Reid, and Byrd will be able to turn off decades of political war to actually work with Republicans. Any Repulbicans who works with the Obama Administration is begging to be stabbed in the back. See what happened to the Bush ADministration on the Bipartisan NCLB.

The Republicans would be better off matching every Democratic proposal with one of their own and force every Democrat and especially the blue dog Democrats to vote against real conservative bills and for bills favored by groups like the CBC.

Of course one of the Republican bills would have a chance of passing but asking question, making proposals, and offer real criticiswm would go much further to advancing conservative policy and being stabbed in the back by the Democrats.

Also, no matter how badly the Obama Administration performs, Obama will get the same level of support from blacks, Hispanics, Jews, Asians, government employees, and elite whites that he will get this year. So there is no chance of him losing.

I don't want to hear about the Republicans being a dead party and they have no influence. Rush, Hannity, etc. wield enormous influence and will remain relevant even if their party is out for the time being. Remember many people thought the Dems were dead in 2004. What a difference four years makes.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm…

And the controversy is here:

http://thenewagenda.net/2008/10/22/together-w…

http://thenewagenda.net/2008/10/17/does-anyon…

Consider your words marked. Good luck with your prediction. And just so you know, I don't share it.

so the next relevant question in presidential politics is will Obama hand pick someone to replace him in 2016 or will the Democrats have a wide open primary season in 2016. Given the collapse of the Republican party, the presidential election in 2016 could be over by super Tuesday. If the Democratic nominee and almost certain winner in 2016 is not Obama's handpicked successor, the U.S. could be facing the longest presidential transition ever.

StockBoySF: “The power of idiots acting together is amazing.”

That may be the smartest thing I have heard all morning and it seems to summarize a good portion of this election season. Congress seems to come to mind as well.

The comment does not refer to “the right” but a segment of the far right. They exist and they have a disproportionate influence in the current GOP.

No one in their right mind seriously considered Palin to be on McCain's shortlist, and yet there she was. The power of idiots acting together is amazing.

But I agree with you, no one in their right mind would consider Palin to be a serious contender in 2012. Besides she has all these scandals and the fact that she supported the AIP as governor (even if she was not a member, she still spoke at their convention and told them they were doing a good job) should be a deal breaker for everyone in this country. But then again there are those idiots who just don't think….

I cannot think of another comment that more clearly demonstrates the big disconnect between what the right thinks and what the left believes the right thinks.

Also jchem, sure the election is “over” in every meaningful sense of the word, but McCain needs to help his party now on the downticket. That's why you keep pretending until the fat lady sings that you can win. Only 3rd party candidates candidly acknowledge they have no shot in hell.

“For one thing, the 2008 election isn’t even over”

C'mon Shaun. I think your most recent post says otherwise. You know, what you have been calling the “McCain-Palin Trainwreck Excuse du Jour”. I don't believe for one minute that you honestly believe that McCain could pull this out.