We got more spending, more lobbying, sour ethics, more government (not less), moral hypocrisy, screwing of immigration reform, and contempt for conservative concerns on all of the above.

Welcome to the mainstream, Tom! Those are things that bugged everybody, not just Classic Conservatives. I noted your use of the label "classic conservative" in another post, which I take as a hopeful sign that you've been listening behind the partisan bluster.

It's easier to be reasonable now that the election's over, isn't it? (A fair, if rhetorical, question which applies to everybody; and it's easier for me too.) Any post-election period, after one side has gotten over the sting of defeat and the other its gloating, represents the best window of opportunity to talk and find areas of common ground that might, in an ideal world, last through the next election.

The people didn't elect Democrats to Congress to pursue an ideological agenda. They're constrained by that on the one hand, and on the other, if they make progress addressing the problems they were sent to Congress to address, they won't have much time to get into ideology. They'll get the minimum wage increase, but at the moment I don't see a lot else in the way of serious items on the agenda.

There are signs already that Bush is defiant and will fight tooth-and-nail against the new Congress. Exhibit A is the sleazy attempt to ram through his "Terrorist Surveillance Act" with the present lame-duck Congress, knowing that the next Congress was elected specifically to oppose that kind of thing. I don't think much of his chances of resisting forever, but there's a risk that if he's too successful blocking the Democratic Congress, with a little time on their hands they'll pursue the agenda you hate.

Compromise at this point would not only be good for the country, it'd be good for Republicans too. This is not the time for GOP politicians to give the people the finger. About the only thing that won't dig Republicans into a deeper hole after this trip to the woodshed is an attitude of "Please, sir, may I have another?". Contrition counts for a lot right now.

And if you want to throw the New Right to the wolves, go for it! I've been saying all along that they betrayed you Republicans as much as the rest of us. You "got more spending, more lobbying, sour ethics, more government (not less), moral hypocrisy, screwing of immigration reform, and contempt for conservative concerns on all of the above"...you have a legitimate beef with those jackals. Show 'em the door, for the good of all of us.