THE ECONOMIST: Libertarians emerge as a force. “Libertarians are a generally Republican-leaning constituency, but over the last few years, their discontent has grown plain. It isn’t just the war, which some libertarians supported, but the corruption and insider dealing, and particularly the massive expansion of spending. Mr Bush’s much-vaunted prescription drug benefit for seniors, they fume, has opened up another gaping hole in America’s fiscal situation, while the only issue that really seemed to energise congress was passing special laws to keep a brain-damaged woman on life support.”

Gee, where have I heard this stuff before?

I caught a bit of Limbaugh talking about how this loss was the Republicans’ own fault, too. And, you know, his analysis sounded kind of familiar, as well. And for an idea of just how out-of-touch the GOP leadership has been, listen to this interview with Ken Mehlman from back in May, when there was still time to do something.

UPDATE: Read this post by Dean Barnett, too.