The GOP doesn't get it...

Captain Ed:

The ascension of Trent Lott as Minority Whip seems especially significant in this regard. Many tried to excuse this by saying that the GOP needs infighters, or that Lott somehow was less egregious than Lamar Alexander on pork, but those are just excuses. Lott has attacked people who want to reform government abuses of taxpayer money and derailed reform legislation intended on exposing the use of earmarks by individual members in order to show taxpayers how influence is bought and sold on Capitol Hill. It's a sorry display of expediency over principle, and every Senator who voted for Lott has underscored the cluelessness of the post-midterm GOP. If Lott truly was the lesser of two evils -- and I don't think he was in this race -- then the GOP has a personnel problem that needs fixing immediately.

Quin Hillyer:

The election of the same two top Republican leaders in the House is as short-sighted and indeed asinine a reaction to a devastating election defeat as has been seen in modern political history. Clearly, the Republican solons have no clue what the country wants, no clue how institutionally corrupt they look, and no clue how badly they have betrayed the rank and file of their party, not to mention how badly they have insulted the conservative movement.

Mary Katherine Ham:

Hey guys? Want more of the same? Isn't that what you meant when you voted Republicans out of office?

Good news. The Republican Party delivers!

The Examiner:

George Santayana said “those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it,” but barely a week has passed since the GOP lost the congressional majorities it held for 12 years, yet it seems the Capitol Hill Republicans have learned nothing. So much is obvious in Sen. Trent Lott’s return to the GOP Senate leadership and the way in which the lame-duck majority is moving to approve hundreds more secret earmarks.

The Lott decision is simply dazzling in its willful rejection of the obvious.

Robert Bluey:

Regardless of how tomorrow's minority leader vote turns out among House Republicans, conservatives made clear today they overwhelmingly support Rep. Mike Pence (R.-Ind.), the underdog who has waged a principled campaign against the establishment candidate, Rep. John Boehner (R.-Ohio).

According to a survey taken Thursday on HumanEvents.com, Pence won an astonishing 89.29% of the vote. Boehner did so poorly, in fact, that the choice of "neither" took a greater share of the vote than he did.

Boehner: 4.46%
Pence: 89.29%
Neither: 6.25%