FWIW, Murtha is a relatively conservative representative. He is pro-life, favors expansion of 2nd amendment rights, etc.

I must say that, after seeing what the GOP hath wrought over the last decade or so, if you asked me what I thought of "real conservative principles", I'd give Gandhi's answer when asked about Western civilization: "it would be a good idea."

I would say that Democrats were better behaved as the minority than Republicans were as the majority. I would hope that Democrats don't return to their pre-1995 ways of operation nor adopt the sleezy, scandal mongering, character assassination style of Republican leadership post 1994.

Republicans choosing McConnell and Lott in the Senate is not encouraging.

Better Murtha on Iraq policy than Rumsfeld.

Another plea for 'civility' from Eric Seymour with nasty little swipes at Dems.

Fear of Republicans "falling into the trap of scandal-mongering?" You've gotta be kidding, right? Where were you doing the Clinton years, Eric? Your fellow Rs practically wrote the book on scandal-mongering! Anyway, if the Dems decide to outright lie to the public about matters of state and/or abuse their new-found power, I would expect the opposition, and the press, to call them on it. (And the press will, they only appear to be fearful of your side.)

For the last 6 years, Dems were locked out of the process by a party that believes 'bipartisanship is another name for date rape,' so they did what opposition parties are supposed to do: oppose. No apologies necessary.

As for "convincing the public that our {conservative} proposals are better" - I ain't countin' on none of that. Not with the recent Republican record of bamboozlement regarding privatizing Social Security.

Dems certainly weren't locked out of the non-SCOTUS judicial nomination process. They controlled that one, and the Republicans let them.

Here's the smart-as-usual Cass Sunstein on a related topic: political 'charity'.
http://www.tnr.com/blog/openuniversity?pid=58647
(That's "charity" in the "principle of" sense -- I'm sure Nick will be happy to explain it if anyone has any questions.) :-)

JohnS,

If you would have taken a moment before spewing your usual bile in my direction, you might have noticed that in the former post of mine which I linked to, I criticized GOP behavior during the Clinton years:

"By observing the boiling pot of anti-Bush animus, I have realized just how unhinged conservatives must have appeared at times during the Clinton years... I wonder how many liberals realize that when they prattle on about Halliburton or Enron they are doing exactly the same thing as the conservatives who couldn't finish a sentence without mentioning Whitewater."