It’s been so long since Democrats have won a sweeping Congressional election that many don’t know quite how to feel. It might be instructive therefore to study the reaction of the Republican politicians and pundits.

The loss of the House and the Senate seems to have shaken them to their core. Blame is flying in all directions. Congressional Republicans who have to vacate their offices are blaming the White House, Rove, and, in particular President Bush’s “misdirection” over his support of Rumsfeld before the election. Pointing the finger back, the Boy Genius accuses scandal-tainted Congressional members of failing to follow his “program.”

Over at National Review, the deflated pundits are sounding like Nancy Pelosi, bravely willing to admit after the votes have been counted that the “culture of corruption” was in fact real. Meanwhile, conservative activists like Pat Toomey of the Club for Growth and Rep Mike Spence of the Republican Study Group blame conservatives for abandoning their small government principles.

What all these Johnny-come-lately prophets of sin and apostasy, who were cheering compassionate conservatism in 2000, 2002, and 2004, fail to accept is that the American people had six years to examine the policies and results of the Republican majority and overwhelming rejected them. The voters choose a new direction.