Jennifer Rubin quotes Winston Churchill’s famous axiom that “Nothing in life is so exhilarating as to be shot at without result”, to kick off a much more sober look back at 2009 than the gentlemen in our last post:

This year ends with a sigh of relief from conservatives on the domestic front. Their work in opposing liberal Democratic policies is not, however, over. The health-care bill looms on the horizon and the Democrats will take a second pass at a number of their policy proposals. But there is a certain exhilaration in surviving the initial (and certainly the strongest barrage) of one’s political enemies. And for conservatives, finding that the American people are increasingly rallying to their side in the political debate is particularly gratifying.

Read the rest of Jennifer’s post — or the Somali pirates will have won — again.

Update: Related thoughts from Smitty, Stacy McCain’s co-blogger, here. And I think this year also provides a definitive answer to the title of this video.