Divide and Conquer

Expect the right wing noise machine to go into overdrive today. The GOP snagged the seat in Hawaii's special election yesterday. I imagine the media narrative will seize on the voter discontent angle, and proclaim this a great victory for the Republicans, but it's only a placeholder election. The winner has to run again in November and a look at the final tally doesn't exactly suggest a GOP resurgence. Djou won with 39.7 percent of the vote with the two Democrats splitting the rest with 31 percent and 27.8 percent. Pretty clear that if it was two man contest, the GOPer would have been creamed.

As it is, I'm not so sure this isn't a blessing in disguise. One expects Djou will hew to the crazy party line inside the Beltway and this win will ultimately act as an object lesson in what returning to GOP governance would look like. It's likely to be not that pretty at all.

[More posts daily at The Detroit News]