The Republican Party got its butt kicked Tuesday night in the Virginia governor's race.  To hear the Democrat media tell it, it was the bell tolling for thee, you disgusting, deplorable dullards who are supporters of that revolting MAGA maggot in the White House.  But mind you now, we are seeing all these demonstrations of extravagant electoral glee from the very same folks who were all but suicidal a year ago this time, when their shoe-in winner got an unexpected shoe in her wide electoral fanny.  Just as they were excessively overwrought then, so are they now far too giddily optimistic regarding the portents of these recent results.  To hear them tell it, one could easily believe that the 2018 elections are all but a done deal for the Dems and that we deplorables may as well stay home on Election Day 2018.

Actually, I believe that's what happened in Virginia yesterday: the Republican establishment ran one of their favorites, an unfortunately lackluster lobbyist who was so uninspiring that he couldn't manage a simple majority in the party primary, pulling in only 43% of that vote.  What percentage of that other 57% do you suppose stayed home yesterday rather than bother to go vote for this unexceptional party hack they had already rejected in the earlier race?

The Democrats, on the other hand, fielded a candidate of considerable accomplishment, a graduate of the Virginia Military Institute who went on to medical school and service as an Army doctor for eight years.  He then became a practicing physician, medical professor, and hospice medical director.  That last would be enough to make me consider crossing over and voting for him, simply because I know that it requires a special kind of medical empathy to manage the end-of-life medical care of terminally ill patients.  Mind you, that military service counted as well.  Virginia has one of the largest active military and retiree populations in the nation.  I'd wager that many of those usual Republican military voters either crossed over and voted for the former military doctor or stayed home.

Consider the folly of running a Washington lobbyist who's spent his entire life in politics as a fence-sitting, moderate Republican against a formidable candidate possessing a quite admirable curriculum vitae.  You probably couldn't find a better example of Elite Republican Establishment stupidity than in that particular example of candidate selection.  Unfortunately, not only did it cost the party a governorship, but the down-ballot effects were significant as well, likely giving the Dems control of the Virginia legislature.

This is a not unexpected political shift; it's been coming for some time as the burgeoning wealthy Virginia suburbs abutting the nation's capital expand their influence over the state's governance.  If you look at a county voting map, it is evident that urban Virginia is increasingly blue, while the vast majority of rural Virginia remains conservative.  Considering that population concentration around D.C., it shouldn't be surprising if Virginia becomes another blue state lining America's eastern shores, joining Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and so forth.

As I write this, I'm hearing some television pundit pronouncing that this election was a profound rejection of Donald Trump and everything he stands for.  No, it wasn't.  It was a classic example of poor politicking by the inept elitist establishment leadership.  So buck up and get back out there, all you deplorables, and let's see if we can kick some sense into this Stupid Party that is the only hope we have to stop the madness of political correctness and racial pandering.