No need to wait for Thanksgiving to wait for people to carve some stuff up, How about the way Obama turned McCain into tiny pieces of red-state meat? Obama's acceptance speech was magical and, more importantly, presidential. He knows to make things work he has to reach out, even to the roughly 18 percent who thought Bush did a great job, ranking up there in denial with James Gandolfini's belief that one day he will be one of the 10 Sexiest Men Alive as named by Cosmo.

I am not surprised that there are many red-stater who still insist the vote was a travesty, unable even to see the historic nature of how a member of a race once enslaved, then trod upon, then threatened and segregated, could rise above it all and lead the world's most powerful country. I'm not mad at those people, I simply feel pity that they let their arrogance blind them to a world-changing event. It's fine to feel frustration your man didn't win, and many Republicans on TV and Internet certainly are voicing that frustration. But many of them are at least conceding some good can come out of this (while the rest of us reasoned folk are looking forward with great glee to the next 8 years of Obama rule). Yet there are still those conservatives who seem to think life as they know it is over, that nothing good can come from a Democratic administration. And I remind them, as they reminded all the whiny liberals over the years, you are always free to leave. Beware, Mexico has some pretty stringent immigration laws. You might want to call ahead first.

That said, can't say what I took more satisfaction in -- Obama up there in front of 100,000 Chicagoans giving one hell of a speech, or seeing Sarah Palin standing beside McCain as he conceded (though I must admit, he was extremely gracious in defeat). But there was Palin, her mouth shut, smiling, and you know she is dying inside. Because now she has to go back to the subarctic and work hard to keep those oil companies in check, companies who pay every Alaska resident nearly $3K a year. But at least I know she'll be vigilant for Russian attacks, keeping an eye to the sky for intruders and shouting, a la Herve Vellachaiz in Fantasy Island, "The planes, the planes, from Russia!! Oh, wait, never mind, looks like United."

Pundits last night were saying that the start of the utter Palin collapse began with the Katie Couric interview and how she insisted that, yes, she kept an eye on Russia. Even though twice Katie allowed her an out, asking if she was sure. "Oh yeah, Katie, you never know what that Vladimir Putin will do, but when he does it, it will be over Alaska, and we'll be America's first line of defense." To which Putin no doubt was thinking, "Why would we waste good bombs on wilderness, one with just enough people to elect a narrow-minded beauty queen who undoubtedly would pass laws against premarital sex and yet cannot even enforce it in her own household? It's not even worth sending a hockey team to Alaska, let alone an army."

Not that McCain would have won even he had not make such a ridiculously mavericky choice. He is now out of touch with 52 percent of Americans, people who realize Iraq had nothing do with 9-11 (nor did ever have any weapons of mass destruction), people who want a leader willing to reach out to other countries to address problems diplomatically rather than one who puffs up his chest and acts like a schoolyard bully and then sends others to fight and die for misguided idealism, people who are tired of tax breaks for the rich, people who think the answer to energy problems lies in conservation and renewable resources rather than raping the environment for fuels that are running out, people who think everyone deserves quality healthcare. People who are, for the most part, rational.

Came across a story the other day on The Onion, and the headline it ran a few days before Bush's inauguration said "Finally, the 8-year national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over." The editor said it was never his intention to be prophetic. Yet there you go. And now our real 8-year national nightmare is over.

Yes, McCain would have been better than Bush. But an 8-year-old prone to temper tantrums would be better than Bush. The war, the economy, the mortgage mess ... Republicans don't deserve any more chances. Last night, most of America agreed.