More the Morning After

One of my hopes in the wake of yesterdays victories (and defeats such as Proposition 8), is that words such as wingnuts, freepers, moonbats and the general meanness on both sides might calm down if not go away.

Though I don't talk about it too much here, I have a number of Republican friends and grew up in Missouri and Oklahoma. I also believe that there are some sane Republicans out there, but most of them are even more appalled by the state of the Republican Party than Democrats are. When he was in office, I had no respect of former Oklahoma Congressman Mickey Edwards. I did meet and interview him a few times, and came to recognize that while I agreed with him on many issues, he was a thoughtful, educated and articulate person with respect of the Constitution.

Much of what he has written and said in interviews lately is incredibly insights. This interview today with Terry Gross on NPR is a reminder that yesterday's victory will be a failure if it is only about squashing the Republican Party. Edwards makes some great points about how the party has gotten so far off track, and though still deeply rooted in Republican values and that he could have lived with a President McCain, he voted for Obama without apology. Perhaps the best moment in the interview is about 2/3rds through when he says that any party that thinks Joe the Plumber is smarter than a Harvard graduate is clearly on the right source. I hope that the battered elephant listens to this Republican and takes some of what he takes to heart instead of thinking that they will rise only by embracing their darkest instincts. From Liddy Dole to Bible Spice Palin, that clearly didn't work, and we can hope they might get back to embracing the core principles of democracy.