FORGET TEA BAGS - READ THE TEA LEAVES

Democrat Kathy Hochul defeated Republican Jane Corwin 47% to 43% in the New York Congressional District 26 special election yesterday in a stunning rebuke to the Republican plan to dismantle Medicare. Hochul's election is remarkable because New York's 26th District is one of the most conservative in the nation, having given 74% of its votes to disgraced former Republican Congressman Chris Lee just seven months ago.

Our Illinois Sixth District Congressman Peter Roskam, who voted last month to privatize Medicare with a voucher system, might just be having second thoughts about a vote that he cannot erase from his record when he runs for a fourth term next year. If 74% previously voting Republican couldn't save a Republican candidate embracing one of the most unpopular domestic policy positions in memory, then Roskam's 64% vote total last year no longer appears insurmountable.

The Republican agenda has for two years now been set by the The folks with the tea bags dangling from their hats, demanding endless cuts to programs benefitting the most needy Americans. Today, five Republican Senators broke ranks and joined 52 Democrats to vote down the radical Republican Medicare plan in the US Senate. It appears that smart Republicans are beginning to ignore those the tea bags in favor of the tea leaves that spell out what is really important to most Americans.