If it wasn’t for coffee, I’d have no discernible personality at all. ~ David Letterman

Captain’s Quarters (Ed Morrissey) Herding Cats, Or Blue Dogs — “Now that the Democrats have won control of both chambers of Congress, their real challenge has begun — big-tent governing. The Democrats took control by nominating center-right candidates to replace Republicans, and now they will have to find ways in which to unify their caucus to get their issues advanced. As the departing Republican leadership can tell them, it’s not as easy as it looks:”

Don Surber Voters return the crooks to power — “In punishing Republicans for profligate spending, voters kicked out the amateur crooks and replaced them with the pros.

Hang on to your wallet. This is going to be a bumpy ride”

Right Wing News (John Hawkins) Don’t Throw John Bolton Under The Bus — “Why shouldn’t Bush come out and say that Bolton has done a fine job of fighting corruption, standing up for American interests, and making a real effort to try to reform an almost completely dysfunctional institution? Then, let the Democrats explain why we need to go along to get along at the UN. The truth is that the Democrats didn’t have any substantial reasons to oppose Bolton in the first place, it was all just knee jerk “oppositionalism”. Now that Bolton has proven himself at the UN for a while, they have absolutely no reason to vote against him other than to stick it to Bush.”

Blue Crab Boulevard Schools Of Thought — “There is the usual and expected – heck, it’s inevitable – soul searching and finger pointing going on in the Republican party and among those who lean to the right. Two major schools of thought are becoming evident early. In one, people are arguing that the Republican loss was a result of moving away from the center and becoming too conservative. The other is the mirror image of course; the Republicans abandoned too much of their conservative principles and tried to pander too much to the middle.”