Listen, last night was a good night for liberals and for Democrats for very obvious reasons, but it was also, possibly, a good night for this country as a whole, because in this country, we have a two-party system in government. And the idea is supposed to be that the two sides, both come up with ways to confront and fix the real problems facing our country.

They both propose possible solutions to our real problems. And we debate between those possible solutions.

And by the process of debate, we pick the best idea. That competition
between good ideas from both sides about real problems in the real country should result in our country having better choices, better options, than if only one side is really working on the hard stuff.

And the if the Republican Party and the conservative movement and the
conservative media is snuck a vacuum-sealed door-locked spin cycle of
telling each other what makes them feel good and denying the factual, lived truth of the world, then we are all deprived as a nation of the
constructive debate about competing feasible ideas about real problems.

Last night the Republicans got shellacked, and they had no idea it was coming. And we saw them in real time, in real humiliating time, not believe it, even as it was happening to them.

And unless they are going to [is] secede, they are going to have to pop
the factual bubble they have been so happy living inside if they do not want to get shellacked again. And that will be a painful process for them, but it will be good for the whole country, left, right, and center. You guys, we`re counting on you. Wake up.

There are real problems in the world. There are real, knowable facts
in the world. Let`s accept those and talk about how we might approach our problems differently. Let`s move on from there.

If the Republican Party and the conservative movement and conservative media are forced to do that by the humiliation they were dealt last night, we will all be better off as a nation. And in that spirit, congratulations, everybody. Big night.

This is the same bullshit and Maddow knew it was bullshit when she was saying it.

There is no definition of a “moderate Republican” in the transcript. She uses “debate” as another floating concept, disconnected from what the real debate would actually entail. There have been plenty of debates in the real world. I’ve seen the Democratic responses.

What she wants, if anything, is to use “two party debate” as a political “beard” for single-party rule. “Why yes, we only want Democratic ideas, and will crush anything at all that conservatives put up, but look, there is political opposition so by definition we are a two-party state. Go back to sleep, now.”

The pleasant buzz-word “debate” evokes fluffy pictures of democracy in action, of men in white wigs, of government in a free society. Doesn’t matter that one side of the table has no chairs.

Again, the key question: What conservative idea (in a debate or otherwise) would be accepted by people like Rachel Maddow? What concept does she actually think is debatable in that arena? You come up blank. So would she.

“We’re not going to double Guantanamo.”

Heh. Goal posts? Over there.