By Mark David Blum, Esq.

Thank you, Mr. President. I listened to you today admit that while individual races may have been close, overall the Republican Party took a “thumpin”; as you so eloquently defined yesterday’s election outcome.

I thank you for acknowledging you failed your party. Admitting that the People have spoken and acknowledging you have to respect their wishes, was the first step toward healing the damage done over the past six years. Begging for conciliation and cooperation from the Legislature was a grand gesture on your part. Ridding the nation of Donald Rumsfeld as your first official post election act was a tremendous good faith effort on your behalf to reach out to make peace with your own people.

It is not going to be easy for such conciliation to take place and I would not fault an aggressive and attack policy by the incoming majority of the legislature. There are certainly enough incidents and events which could keep prosecutors busy for generations. After the abuse and terrorizing of the then minority Party, for them to now accept the President’s gesture will show them to be far greater human beings than am I.

For six years, I have been branded a traitor. They accused me of being a Defeatocrat, a coward, someone who wants to cut and run and abandon our troops. They branded me of being a lover of terrorists and a friend of Hezbollah. I have watched one of the most honorable words in the English language, ‘Liberal’ be slimed, slandered, and made ugly. My government accused me of preferring to defend the rights of terrorists and inviting attack upon Americans because I opposed Republican policies of no warrant searches and gutting of basic constitutional protections.

For six years, I have watched with great frustration as 3,000 American soldiers died in Afghanistan and Iraq. While I applauded the Afghan campaign, when I opposed the war in Iraq, they branded me as being a panderer and said I was welcoming a mushroom cloud in New York City.

For six years, I have endured their lies, their smears, their take-no-prisoners Swift Boat practice of destroying any voices of opposition. Many many good people had their lives ruined while the Republicans elevated party over country. John McCain was not the only victim.

For six years, my freedoms have been chewed up by reactionary right wing religious extremists and when I speak up, I am branded anti-Christian. My honor and integrity is impugned and my belief system has been mocked. Their lack of any intelligent design to their thinking was forced upon the secular school system. Christian Gods were shoved into every aspect of society.

For six years I have watched greed and piggish self interest take priority over the nation. I listened with awe as Republicans threatened to wipe out more than 200 years of Senate rules and tradition to ram home their judicial agenda. There was no negotiation; there was no debate. It was take it or leave it politics. Now, they want conciliation.

For the six years that the Republicans have been in solo power, the ignored me and cared not one whit about my opinion or the opinion of those who think as do I. The did as they pleased and turned our great nation into a despised international bully while at the same time, Republicans have drained our treasury.

Now, they want conciliation. They want me to forget all the horrible things said by Jim Walsh, Jeff Brown, and Ray Meier about their opponents. After battering good and honorable candidates and instead of debating the true issues, the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee ripped these people to shreds and destroyed their private lives. Now, Mr. Bush and the minority party want the situation to be, “nevermind.”

At his press conference today, the President tried to distinguish between the nature of campaigning and the business of governing. He said that if he held a grudge for everything that was said about him during a campaign, he would never get anything done. Having given that confession a bit of thought, I can understand why he sees the world the way he does. Being such an idiot and incompetent but constantly winning by Swift Boating the competition, Mr. Bush has built a paranoid world around himself wherein he sees everybody as an enemy and only to be negotiated with when he has to. Otherwise, in his arrogance, he may not hold a grudge, but Mr. Bush has never missed an opportunity to screw over an honest Democrat with a good idea.

I am now being asked to be the “big man” too and extend a hand to my political opponents; forgive and forget. Six years leaves a lot of scars. Much pain and damage has been done in the name of advancing the extremist right wing religious agenda. Donald Rumsfeld’s firing was a good start but until significant work is done elsewhere to dismantle the spiders web of Republican manipulation that now reaches into every aspect of government, I am not going to be so quick to be forgiving. After all, if in two years the Democrats don’t fix the situation dramatically, I will be calling for their heads as well.

It was a blast today listening to right wing spit radio blowing its top and affixing blame. Rush Limbaugh opined the outcome was based on dissatisfaction with Congress and how Republicans abandoned Conservatism. The drug addicted felon mouthpiece for the Republicans said that Democrats won because they had nobody to run against and no policy to run against. Glenn Beck likewise shouted out that it was all the Republican failure to adhere to Libertar …. er, Conservative principles that brought about the change in policy. No loudmouth admitted it was about Iraq or the economy or the loss of constitutional freedoms.

Because of what has been said from the White House to the Fox house, it is clear that “they just don’t get it.” The “thumpin” was a royal butt kicking and message that Americans are just sick and tired of the Republicans; period. Their sucking up to religious zealots, their corruption and illegal activities, and a war based upon lies and willful misrepresentations have totally distorted the party and its priorities.

My President wants conciliation. Fine, but I want a full acknowledgment that nothing my belief system supports poses a threat to the nation. San Francisco values are the same as Pensacola values and are the same as Syracuse values; they are all American values enumerated in our Founding documents.

If Republicans truly want conciliation then their first move is to abandon their party. Start a new party or join with the Democrats. Leave the present day Republican party to the religious nuts, the war mongers, the ignorant, and the fascists. Let them scream and holler about Terry Sciavo and stem cells. I want a party that will scream about taxes, spending, education, and health care for the living.

Flag burning, abortion, reading lists, contraception, pornography, gay marriage, and immigration are all issues of the extremists. Leave the party and let the idiots continue to harp and scream about their narrow minded issues. Let them have their party of Jesus and the Rapture.

Meanwhile, the intelligent Republicans who “get it” can come together with today’s Democrats and let’s build a nation that will motivate our great grandchildren to call us the Greatest Generation.

But until Republicans acknowledge their ways and means are cruel, irrelevant, and dangerous, there can be no conciliation. I am not a traitor. I am an American and my loyalties cannot be questioned. For six years, they said I had the wrong loyalties. For six years I waited. Now comes the day.

Let the real thumping begin.