GOP cheats and Dems demure

Whatever the final tally of Tuesday's general election, the GOP is finally being called out for its dirty tricks. The so-called 72-hour strategy involved "robocalls" that were scripted to deceive voters to think that Democratic candidates were calling at odd hours repeatedly were ringing phones of voters in close races. The Washington Post and others reported the story in the last two days — possibly too late for some voters to get the word.

And much as I hate to bash my own profession, the media seems not to be concerned by what is clearly a dirty tactic. This goes beyond negative TV ads — even the racist ones in Tennessee — it suggests that winning is everything. And few journalists are giving it half as much attention as a bad joke told poorly.

Add these last minute robocalls to the laundry list of rotten tactics the Republicans have pulled in the last six years. Police intimidation in Florida, refusing to perform a full recount in that same state, alleged calls to voters saying that police would arrest voters with outstanding parking tickets at polls in Virginia, purging voter rolls, creating barriers to minority voters in Ohio in 2004 and the list goes on.

In fact, by 6 p.m. CST on Tuesday, Tim Russert of NBC was suggesting that Democrats not go after President Bush with investigations and hearings so they didn't appear as an opposition party. Democrats should reach across the aisle because this vote was a referendum on divisive politics.

A couple of hours later, Rep. Rahm Emmanuel, D-IL, was on NBC saying that the House under Democrats would work to unite the country and put it back on the right track. In other words, the American people who in poll after poll said that the GOP scandals and the war in Iraq caused them to doubt the President and the party. They demanded change and wanted to know who was responsible for the mess the country is in. There are at least fifteen new Democrats in the House who ran against the President. Those voters expect the Congressmen-elect to at least officially look at the run-up to the Iraq invasion and Foley scandal.

If Mr. Emmanuel is taken at his word, it appears that there will be no real change in Congress. The left-wing blogosphere will once again be Cassandras, only this time in an election that showed strong gains for the party believed to be liberal.

Democrat Tammy Duckworth, an Army reservist who lost both her legs when here Blackhawk helicopter was shot down in Iraq, lost to a Republican by the slimmest of margins. Her supporters were vocal in their desire to see someone hold the administration’s feet to the fire. Mr. Emmanuel and the DCCC literally poured millions of dollars into her election and she lost. Conversely they all but ignored Rep. Melissa Bean, D-IL, who won reelection to a seat that hadn't had a Democrat in decades when she took it in 2004. I'm not suggesting that the DCCC shouldn't be happy with their success in retaking the house for the first time in more than a decade, but clearly they didn't pitch a shutout with their message.

One hopes Mr. Emmanuel was merely emulating President Bush with a phony "uniter not divider" sound bite before doing the opposite.