Rats are deserting the sinking Republican ship

Senator Arlen Specter ('is haunting Europe' - sorry, bit of a politics joke there) has joined the Democrats. He's still anti-union and generally rightwing, but if Al Franken finally gets seated, the Dems will have a filibuster proof majority of 60-40 and can really start to dismantle the Bush legacy. Poor people might even get medical care!

New York's new Senator

I ranted earlier about Caroline Kennedy's monarchical progress towards the New York Senate seat. Now it turns out that the Democrats have made an even worse choice: Kirsten Gillibrand, angel of the NRA and guardian of those bastards at the NYSE. Just when the Democrats have got enough credit in the bank to make some bold choices, they go back to their nasty triangulating ways. It's a sign of weakness. Picking neo-Republicans (DINOs - Democrats In Name Only) reveals a covert belief that the US population is essentially Republican - just as the actual election results reveal otherwise.