It was to be expected, per Karl. You see, he has a memo. And his memo says that everything is going just fine:
The "one-pager" outlines why, in his view, the losses were not particularly extraordinary and therefore not a repudiation of Bush: The loss of 28 House seats and six Senate seats is roughly comparable to losses suffered by the party in the White House in the sixth year of other presidencies and the same as the average wartime midterm. Moreover, it says, 23 races were decided by two percentage points or less, and it credits the "GOP Ground Game," the Rove-devised turnout machine. Overall, a shift of 77,611 votes would have kept the House in Republican hands.And you know what? Good. Keep Bush doing exactly what he's doing, Karl. I want that man as arrogant and stupid as ever. Because 2 more years of George Bush, incompetently staying the course because he thinks the public really likes him - all 31% approval rating of him - and we'll have the presidency in 2008 and strengthen our hold on both houses of Congress.
And one more thing. Ask Rick Santorum, George Allen, Denny Hastert, John Boehner, and Mitch McConnell whether they think the election was no big deal.
