It apparently wasn’t enough that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., suffered a humiliating defeat when he failed to gain passage last week of that horrendous $1.2 trillion omnibus spending bill that contained more than 6,600 earmarks. Reid thought he had enough votes from Democrats and a handful of Republicans who would be unable to resist the lure of those earmarks.

With November’s election results still fresh, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., forcefully reminded his wavering GOP colleagues that voters said “no” to more earmarks in the plainest possible terms. Considering the historic gains voters awarded to Republican candidates from top to bottom of the ballots across the country, pundit P.J. O’Rourke was right on target in describing the results as a “restraining order” against the Democratic majority of the 111th Congress.