[Quote:]

The summer camp featured in the documentary “Jesus Camp,” which includes scenes with disgraced preacher Ted Haggard, will shut down for at least several years because of negative reaction sparked by the film, according to the camp’s director.

“Right now we’re just not a safe ministry,” Becky Fischer, the fiery Pentecostal pastor featured in “Jesus Camp,” said Tuesday.

[Quote:]

Politicians, analysts and ordinary citizens across much of the world welcomed the electoral rebuke given
President Bush’s Republican Party and the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Wednesday.

Against the broad mood of satisfaction, however, there were voices of concern that a power split between Democrats and Republicans in Washington might mean uncertainty in crucial areas like global trade talks.

On Iraq, some worried that Democrats could force a too-rapid retreat, leaving the country and the region in chaos. Others said they doubted the congressional turnover would have a dramatic impact on Iraq policy any time soon, largely because the Democrats have yet to define the course they want to take.

But from Paris to Pakistan, a repeated theme was hope that the Democratic takeover of the House and Senate would force Bush to adopt a more conciliatory approach to global crises, and teach a president many see as a “cowboy” a lesson in humility.

“Americans are realizing that you can’t found the politics of a country on patriotic passion and reflexes,” said French schoolteacher Jean-Pierre Charpemtrat.

“You can’t fool everybody all the time — and I think that’s what Bush and his administration are learning today.”

Italian Premier Romano Prodi said Rumsfeld’s surprise resignation underscored the depth of what has happened in America.

“Even though U.S. politics had already started changing, Rumsfeld’s resignation means an accentuation of this change,” Prodi said. “We’ll see over the next few days what the new direction will be. But certainly we have a political structure … deeply different from that of a few days ago.”

In an extraordinary joint statement, more than 200 Socialist members of the European Parliament hailed the American election results as “the beginning of the end of a six-year nightmare for the world.”

[Quote:]

Democrats wrested control of the Senate from Republicans Wednesday with an upset victory in Virginia, giving the party complete domination of Capitol Hill for the first time since 1994.

Jim Webb’s squeaker win over incumbent Sen. George Allen (news, bio, voting record) gave Democrats their 51st seat in the Senate, an astonishing turnabout at the hands of voters unhappy with Republican scandal and unabated violence in Iraq. Allen was the sixth Republican incumbent senator defeated in Tuesday’s elections.

Somebody better send a counseling team to John McCain:

[Oct 19, 2006:]

John McCain joked on Wednesday he would “commit suicide” if Democrats win the Senate in November. McCain one of the frontrunners for the GOP nomination for president in 2008, was on a visit to Iowa to campaign for Republican congressional candidates when he made the off the cuff remark.

When asked for his reaction to a potential Democratic takeover of the Senate in the November 7 elections McCain had a snappy response.

“I think I’d just commit suicide,” McCain told reporters, to accompanying laughter from Republicans standing with him. “I don’t want to face that eventuality because I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

[Quote:]

DC—After months of aggressive campaigning and with nearly 99 percent of ballots counted, politicians were the big winners in Tuesday’s midterm election, taking all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, retaining a majority with 100 out of 100 seats in the Senate, and pushing political candidates to victory in each of the 36 gubernatorial races up for grabs.

While analysts had been predicting a possible sweep for months, and early exit-poll numbers seemed favorable, politicians reportedly exceeded even their own expectations, gaining an impressive 100 percent of the overall national vote.

“It’s a good night to be a politician,” said Todd Akin, an officeholder from Missouri. “The American people have spoken, and they have unanimously declared: ‘We want elected officials to lead this nation.’”

[Quote:]

The way I feel is this: I feel liberated, and I’m going to tell you as plainly as I can why. I no longer am going to have to carry the water for people who I don’t think deserve having their water carried. Now, you might say, “Well, why have you been doing it?” Because the stakes are high. Even though the Republican Party let us down, to me they represent a far better future for my beliefs and therefore the country’s than the Democrat Party and liberalism does.

[..]

‘m not trying to tell you that this is about me. I’m just answering questions that I’ve had from people about how I feel. There have been a bunch of things going on in Congress, some of this legislation coming out of there that I have just cringed at, and it has been difficult coming in here, trying to make the case for it when the people who are supposedly in favor of it can’t even make the case themselves — and to have to come in here and try to do their jobs.

So if you’ve been asking yourself “does Rush really believes this crap?” here’s your answer. No. He doesn’t believe what he says. He’ll say whatever he has to say to keep Republicans in power. You can not believe a word that comes out of his mouth.