In the WSJ former Majority Leader Dick Armey assess the results of this weeks election. He is basically on target, especially here:

Eventually, the policy innovators and the “Spirit of ‘94″ were largely replaced by political bureaucrats driven by a narrow vision. Their question became: How do we hold onto political power? The aberrant behavior and scandals that ended up defining the Republican majority in 2024 were a direct consequence of this shift in choice criteria from policy to political power.

Nowhere was this turn more evident than in the complete collapse of fiscal discipline in the budgeting process. For most Republican candidates, fiscal responsibility is our political bread and butter. No matter how voters view other, more divisive issues from abortion to stem-cell research, Republicans have traditionally enjoyed a clear advantage with a majority of Americans on basic pocketbook issues. “We will spend your money carefully and we will keep your taxes low.” That was our commitment. This year, no incumbent Republican (even those who fought for restraint) could credibly make that claim. The national vision–less government and lower taxes–was replaced with what Jack Abramoff infamously called his “favor factory.” One Republican leader actually defended a questionable appropriation of taxpayer dollars, saying it was a reasonable price to pay for holding a Republican seat. What was most remarkable was not even the admission itself, but that it was acknowledged so openly. Wasn’t that the attitude we were fighting against in 1994?

(Emphasis in the original).

There is little doubt that the main focus of the Republicans of late has been the retention of power. Even more significantly there is no doubt that the fiscal responsibility that was allegedly the hallmark of the party clearly went out the window.

Now, the question is, I think, whether that it is simply, as Armey suggests, the failure of Republican values, or the what happens to majorities in Congress where the pressures are high to bring home the bacon as a means of pleasing the voters back home and building power with lobbyists and colleagues.