I'm condescending to watch CNN just now before going to our own victory party in the local city council election. It reminds me of why I've stopped watching cable news bullshit. So, I thought I would just post a few of the gems I picked up in a matter of an hour and a half to demonstrate:

* Bill Bennett predicts that Rick Santorum, having had his butt kicked out of the Senate will now be a draft candidate for Republican President.

* Jeff Greenfield says that the no matter what else happens, the "netroots" will see it almost as a defeat if Lieberman wins.

* Lieberman gets more votes from Republicans than Democrats.

* Ken Mehlman "we always expected Indiana and Kentucky to be tough, and predicts a "tight race" between Cardin and Steele after Wolfie called it for Cardin. Can anyone tell me the last time Indiana and Kentucky were "tough for Republicans?"

* Lou Dobbs looks like he's on Ambien.

* Jeff Greenfield says that Whitehouse beats Chaffee simply because Chaffee is a "Republican", completely ignoring how Chaffee voted with Bush and the Republicans over and over and over again. The CW is going to be that Chaffee was far more independent than he really was. The voters know the difference.

* Bill Bennett: Because Lieberman won it's an endorsement of Bush's policies on the Iraq war, while mentioning that the "hard left" was slapped down (see above vote results for Lieberman)

* In the few years since I stopped watching, Wolfie has gotten no better ... zilch ... in his ability to talk extemporaneously, routinely screwing up names and saying really stupid inane things. He merely drooooonnnnneeess on ......

* Candy Crowley informs us that people tend to lie to exit pollsters about their racism. Thanks Candy.

* Wolfie tries to create some drama asking, "is it surprising that we're not calling more Democratic victories yet?"

* The "pundits" are spending most of their analysis time talking about the "shake up" of the dynamics within the Republican party in the Senate, still ignoring the real story ("oh no! What will the Republican Senate be like!!!". How in the world will we be able to govern without Rick "man on dog" Santorum!!!)

* J.C. Watts: Dems are only winning because they've become Republicans.

* Allen gets the majority of the male vote because of one word: Football! At least so says that great political analyst Bill Schneider.

* Bill Bennett: "I do not see this overwhelming wave against Bush and the war". I wonder what a wave would look like to Bill Bennett, tanks outside the Whitehouse? He also raises the specter of Dems defunding the war, lynch mob going after Rummy yadda yadda yadda. Is there a bigger hack than Bill Bennett? It may be instructive that CNN has J.C. Watts and Bill Bennett representing the conservative punditry ... pretty small potatoes.

Regarding Lieberman/Lamont, Jane of FireDogLake had this to say:

But the wave of Democratic victory that is happening across the country would not be happening if the Lamont campaign did not step forward and change the narrative for Democrats. Despite the fact that Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer and Bill and Hillary Clinton planted a big, fat knife in Lamont's back and sneered at Democratic voters, the the blue victories that are happening are a direct result of this battle. The genie came out of the bottle and they could not put it back in.

I agree about being stabbed in the back. I'm not sure I'd go quite as far as Jane in terms of Lamont being responsible for the wave although I do believe Lamont played a part in changing the dialog. But Lamont was a very very long shot in the beginning. He won the primary and only loses in a blue state because of a Republican tactic to support Lieberman. Lieberman got something like 36% of the Republican vote. As has been the case, the "hard left netroots" has always supported long-shot candidates, only now some of them are winning.

That's enough for tonight. Still neck n' neck in Missouri, Tenn (surprisingly) and Virginia. I'm off to toast the local progressives who've won. We're hoping to pick up two out of three open city council seats with an incumbent a shoo-in for the other seat. Keep your fingers crossed for us.

And .... I can't stand watching cable news.