I agree with his point, but I love his writing even more

Jonah Goldberg has a great point today, and one I think I touched upon about a year ago: it wouldn’t be a desperately bad thing if the Democrats were to win the House in 2006. I don’t think Americans, ultimately, will be that thrilled with Democratic rule, and it will shake up Republican hubris. That could get Republicans back in power in 2008. The worst thing would be a full Democratic return in 2008. Better to let them stretch their wings now and see what happens. Anyway, that’s Goldberg’s point. What I like even better than his point, though, is how he makes it. Next to Mark Steyn, Goldberg is definitely my favorite writer:

Conservative Republicans have learned a painful lesson in recent years. It turns out power isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Republican control of the White House and Congress hasn’t resulted in lights being turned off in Cabinet agencies or enormous garage sales of office furniture. Instead, Uncle Sam is still looking like Marlon Brando at the end of his career: bloated, sweaty and slow-moving. The GOP has become a Brando-like parody of its former self, reading its lines about cutting government without plausibility or passion.

The rub of it, from a conservative perspective, is that Republican control of the House doesn’t equal conservative control. It may not seem that way to liberals who think Joe Lieberman is right wing, but from the vantage point of the conservative movement, GOP dominance has been an enormous disappointment – good judicial appointments and tax cuts notwithstanding. Our hopeful joy upon the 1994 takeover of Congress was like finding a new pony by the Christmas tree. Now it’s more like finding it slumped over dead on top of the presents.

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But what would actually happen [if Democrats won the house]? Well, the first thing we’d hear would be the metaphorical snap of the rubber glove as the House prepared to investigate the executive branch with a zeal and thoroughness normally reserved for prison guards who enjoy looking for contraband just a little too much. Subpoenas would fly. Perhaps printers would churn out bills of impeachment.

To my mind, funny, vivid imagery makes for great op-ed writing!

Hat tip:  Kevin, whom you know as a witty and erudite visitor to my blog