How Blue is Virginia?

What's going on in Virginia?!? Well, blogs to the left of us and blogs to the right of us (not to mention the establishment media) all seem to agree that if those dang republicans would just stop talking about illegal immigration, then everyone would be better off. We here at DCPN continue to think that the election was more about lackluster candidates than it was a message about illegal immigration or a repudiation of conservative ideology. When you've got republicans disagreeing about not whether to raise taxes, but only how high they should be raised, it's tough to say that voters who reject the republican party are rejecting conservative principles.

But in all the Monday-morning-quarterbackery that we've slogged through so far, EJ Dionne's piece in today's WaPo stands out as a startling piece of revisionism. EJ starts out fine when describing Gov Kaine's politicking on behalf of Dem candidates:

Typically, moderate Democrats in swing states keep their distance from party concerns for fear of alienating more conservative voters. Kaine's risk-taking reflected his character -- he could not see himself "sleepwalking through an election," he said in a telephone interview yesterday. It also spoke to his party's growing confidence that voters want to buy what Democrats are selling.

Hey, Gov Kaine did a great job getting out the vote and should be congratulated for his victory, but it was hardly risky for him to go out and beat up on the republican candidates. Apparently overwhelmed by the Gov's show of bravery, EJ lurches unexpectedly to this conclusion:

But the pitch is unexpected: It casts Democrats as the party of nonpartisanship and relegates Republicans to the status of partisan ideologues.

Democrats are the party of nonpartisanship? Aside from its twisted logic (how can you be a party and a non-party at the same time?) the statement ignores (in fact belittles) some of the best attacks launched by democratic partisans in the VA election. And why does it follow that the republicans are relegated to the status of "partisan ideologues" merely because they don't "buy what the Democrats are selling"?

Oh well, I guess that's EJ being EJ. We here at DCPN will continue to study skim the reporting and commentary in our search for meaning in Tuesday's voting.