A Post-Election "Must Read" List

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Not much time for blogging today but two days after the election is such a great time to reflect that I did scan these op-ed pieces. I heartily recommend them all:

William Kristol, "Misunderestimated." (This one is delicious.)

Peggy Noonan, "So Much To Savor." (Even better.)

Ryan Lizza, The New Republic (The view from the Kerry camp as things fell apart for them Tuesday afternoon.)

Hugh Hewitt, The End of The Sixties.

David Broder, "An Old Fashoned Win." There are a lot of liberal-leaning jouralistic pieties expressed in this piece, which concludes with a somewhat ominous statement:

[T]he democratic process -- in an election that fulfilled all of its most
important requirements -- endorsed the Bush presidency. And if we know anything
about him, we know he will exercise the full powers of his office.

Just makes you want to huddle by the fire with your loved ones and reassure them, doesn't it?

Broder also observes:

A crucial element of the [Bush] strategy is the mobilization of religious
conservatives, those who are normally more conscientious about going to church
than about voting. Exit polls showed more than one in five voters Tuesday named
moral values as the most important issue determining their vote -- more than
cited terrorism, the economy or Iraq. More than three-quarters of them supported
Bush.

Does anyone else see that little slap at religious conservatives-- "those who are normally more conscientious about going to church than about voting?" According to Evan Thomas of Newsweek on the November 5 Laura Ingraham broadcast, the mainstream media (a church in which Broder is a high priest) is very uncomfortable with religion and with openly religious people. It is interesting to see unintentional expressions of that discomfort in Broder's writing.