My favorite McLaughlin Group food-fighter was in Kansas City last night for a discussion with R. Crosby Kemper III billed as “After the Election:  What Comes Next?”

She did not disappoint – she is every bit as quick to shoot down my (grudgingly) favorite Republican (Crosby) as she is to slap down Pat Buchanan or that unctuous twit Monica Crowley.   He tried his hand at high comedy in his opening by asking her if it was true that before the President Elect’s appearance in Grant Park on election night if he walked across Lake Michigan.  She dealt with this bit of silliness deftly by pointing out that casting the newly elected president as the leader or a “cult of personality” smartassery is nothing more than a way to demean him, and segued into the way Obama changed the electorate.  “Not since Bobby Kennedy has a political figure so captured the imagination of the nation and specifically of young people.  He won something like two-thirds of the votes of people under thirty.”  She went on to explain that what this means is that the republicans didn’t just lose an election, they have potentially lost a generation, and that has the potential to realign the political map.  

Crosby apologized immediately as soon as it was his turn to talk again – he really was just being a smartass and didn’t mean to be demeaning.  (His ability to roll with the punches and take his lumps in good humor is why I like the guy on a personal level, his association with that wingnut outfit the “Show Me Institute” notwithstanding.)   But still – that bit of contrition on Crosby’s part alone made braving the cold, wet weather we had to go out in to attend the packed forum to see her worth it.   At least Cros didn’t yell over her when she made points that  run counter to his political leanings, and given the company she keeps on a weekly basis, that had to be a refreshing change.  

Eleanor Clift has been covering politics for Newsweek for over thirty years, all the way back to Jimmy Carter’s 1976 campaign for the presidency, so she has the perspective to place current events in historical context.  

When Crosby brought up the experience issue, Eleanor zeroed in on McCain flopping his ace by picking the not-ready-for-prime-time Palin.  Here she skipped over my favorite counterargument:  I point out all the scads of experience that Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney brought to the Bush administration, and look where that got us.   Not that Eleanor Clift needs my advice on spanking republicans.  After all, it’s her life’s work!  

The electoral map has indeed been redrawn, to the point that the current incarnation of the republican party has been beaten back to a handful of southern and western states.  

Take that to the next logical step, and the remaining republicans are really two parties.  The south is populated by theocons who are driven by religion and their desire to impose their dogma on the rest of us, and the western states are populated by republicans of the libertarian variety.  Where this leaves the money-cons like Crosby is anyone’s guess, and we will all be interested in seeing where they end up over the next couple of election cycles.  

Whatever happens next, I hope Crosby will bring her back to talk to us again.  If he does, I will be there no matter what sort of nasty weather I have to brave to attend!