Schadenfreude

Rarely do I feel pleasure from the pain of others. I often hope people with misplaced values learn their lesson, but I don't wish harm on them. But Tuesday night, the crumbling of two terrible men brought me so much enjoyment.

Karl Rove had a mental breakdown as he witnessed over a hundred million dollars of money his Super PACs had raised squandered dramatically thanks to the will of the American voting public. I once saw Rove screaming at an Iraqi student during a question and answer session. The student had dared to question Rove's worldview. Instead of engaging with the student on any kind of intellectual level, Rove screeched at the student that Saddam had rape rooms and the student's sister and mother would have been raped if the U.S. had not invaded.

I haven't heard a worse comment in private, let alone a public setting. It showed me that Karl Rove does not have the ability to emotionally or intellectually process a challenge to his beliefs. This was exposed on Tuesday night. Rove challenged mathematics and looked like a fool in doing so. When the reality of the election did not fit what he believed would happen, he couldn't accept blame as would an emotionally well- adjusted person. He whined and pouted and cried bloody murder. To see a man like that falter before our very eyes on national television filled me with an unimaginable glee.

During the campaign, Roscoe Bartlett compared federally funded student aid programs to the Holocaust. Holocaust comments tend not to offend, me but this one did. I wrote Congressman Bartlett a letter. The octogenarian congressman from Maryland replied in such a callous manner as to add to the original offense.

Tuesday night, Roscoe Bartlett suffered a defeat he thoroughly deserved. He is a man, though old enough to have lived during the Holocaust, who could not understand how hurtful and despicable his comments actually were. He thought politics was a game and the people his pawns. Bartlett was wrong. The people didn't want him. They reminded old Roscoe that he has truly outlived his time. And I couldn't be more glad.