Nice post. Good retrospective and perspective. Although, I'm not sure the "loony left" has yet decided whether the evil ones are Jews or Saudi rulers--but at least neocons are on on history's ash heap, at least for a while. (May every spark and ember be extinguished . . .)

This is no time to get complacent. The forces of darkness so evident 5 years ago have never stopped plotting and scheming. If I had a wish for Blue Oregon it would be to take on these national challenges as they come even though they can be so tedious and obnoxious.

 A few years ago Sean Hannity said that he foresaw the Bush era leading to a generation of Republican Rule. I took note of that. Fortunately he turned out to be wrong. But that doesn't mean the pendulum can't swing back if we're not careful.

  The best comment for me that captured the Bush years and the near ascension of John McCain and Sarah Palin to the White House was made by a cashier at Zupan's. She said it was good Obama won but it shouldn't have been as close as it was. A joke like Sarah Palin never should have gotten that far. Imagine how doomed we'd be if the Republicans could screw up that badly for 8 years, and still retain power.

   One of the main problems we face as progressives is jumping into this financial nightmare. Enough energy has to be expended telling the real story. Right now I think the right is outworking sites like this and selling another load of crap about the financial crisis.

  Why aren't we talking about Henry Paulson's appearance yesterday before Congress? That was a crucial glimpse at the role of the Bush administration in the TARP nightmare. Oh well....

 Congratulations on 5 years of making a difference but I hope complacency doesn't set in because all could quickly be lost.

Where is the post about Ron's sellout/delay???????

Wyden is a SELLOUT!

Life is now perfect. Democrats will lead us to the Promised Land.

I can't wait.

Blue Oregon did in fact create an online community which does not require people to be in the same place to have a conversation.

Some of the columns and some of the comments have been most informative.

But from WTFRON to many others I could mention, there is a bad habit on this and other blogs--does anyone really believe that the level of insult most people would not use in person will really change any minds?

I campaigned for Ron Wyden for Senate in Jan. 1996 expecting him to use his best judgement.

My experience is that demanding an elected official see things from one's personal point of view at all times or be called names is no more helpful to political success than telling someone they are a bad person if you don't support a particular candidate. I cannot remember one political victory which came from that behavior. I do recall registering NAV after a primary so that no one could tell me "good Democrats have a duty to support the nominee". That was over a decade ago, and I never regretted changing my registration--kept it that way until there was a primary I really cared about voting in.

When I saw Joe Scarborough on CSPAN telling an interviewer that maybe Bush would have had fewer problems in the end had there been a strong legislative branch led by the other party, I realized how much times have changed. Rove thought there would be Nirvanna and a realignment of FDR dimensions if only Republicans controlled everything. Guess he didn't realize how Armey, DeLay, Gingrich et al would alienate ordinary voters.

In the end, ideological purity loses to people who want honest debate. Many support problem solvers and politicians who give responsive answers to their questions over straight line ideologues. Many people here would benefit from dialogue "offline" with people of opposing views.

One more thing: not everyone blogs. Kari's post says "We've had 6970 posts that generated over 167,000 comments and 9.1 million pageviews."

That would indicate folks who read but never comment.

If someone here quotes a friend who called them or otherwise spoke to them in person but who doesn't blog, and a BO commenter who doesn't like that remark says "if your friend really existed, why didn't he write his own comment", what does that accomplish? Does it win over the person who reads but does not comment? Or the person who quoted the friend? Or was the object of such a comment just to vent, whatever the result?

Behaving like adults will show up the juveniles who often support Republicans---or just vent but never make affirmative comments.

Whoever one supports in the 2010 election, please keep it civil. I had an email in a previous election year from a primary candidate after I had written him about debate on this blog. The answer included how many people this candidate talked to who did not comment on Blue Oregon. Believe it or not, some voters this candidate had spoken with didn't even read BO!

Yes and on this happy occasion Ron Wyden has officially joined the "Gang of Six," erasing all doubt as to which side he is on.

This casts a different light on the ol' watercooler and the self-congratulatory rhetoric, does it not?

Yep, now we can experience hope. Hope of big taxes, abortion and free handouts! Yipee!

Blue Oregon did in fact create an online community which does not require people to be in the same place to have a conversation.

Some of the columns and some of the comments have been most informative.