Last, and I hate to break this to Tom Brokaw, and to Kasie Hunt, who talked about how the Republicans know they have to "govern," but this election couldn't have been less of a repudiation of the Tea Party. As the cable shows signed off last night, it was dawning even on the most conventional pundits that the Republicans had not elected an escadrille of Republican archangels to descend upon Capitol Hill. It was more like a murder of angry crows. Joni Ernst is not a moderate. David Perdue is not a moderate. Thom Tillis is not a moderate. Cory Gardner -- who spiced up his victory by calling himself "the tip of the spear" -- is not a moderate. Tom Cotton is not a moderate. And these were the people who flipped the Senate to the Republicans. In the reliably Republican states, Ben Sasse in Nebraska is not a moderate. Several of these people -- most notably, Sasse and Ernst -- won Republican primaries specifically as Tea Partiers, defeating establishment candidates. The Republicans did not defeat the Tea Party. The Tea Party's ideas animated what happened on Tuesday night. What the Republicans managed to do was to teach the Tea Party to wear shoes, mind its language, and use the proper knife while amputating the social safety net. They did nothing except send the Tea Party to finishing school.

Here is the aforementioned Jody Hice of Georgia, a Baptist membership, talking about how it's OK for the ladies with their ladyparts to run for election as long as they ask Pater-may-I? to their hubbies.

''If the woman's within the authority of her husband, I don't see a problem,'' Dr. Jody Hice of the Bethlehem First Baptist church in Barrow County said of women in positions of political power.

Here's Congressman Jody on imperiled American Christians, who are going to be sent to Gay Jail very, very soon.

"Evidently there are many who believe a 'Gestapo-like' presence is needed by the government in order to corral and keep under control, all these 'dangerous' Christians."

Jody got 67 percent of the vote.

Or there's Ken Buck, who was too loopy to beat Michael Bennet for the Senate in Colorado, but who's just what the doctors -- and everybody else -- ordered in the Fourth Congressional District of Colorado. Congressman Ken thinks being gay is like being an alcoholic, but with better accessories.

Ken got 67 percent of the vote.

Or there's Glenn Grothman in Wisconsin, who will bring with him to Washington several valises of accumulated krayzee.

A December 2012 press release issued by Grothman's state senate office asked, "Why Must We Still Hear About Kwanzaa?" In it, Grothman claimed that Kwanzaa is a phony holiday promoted by "white left-wingers who try to shove this down black people's throats in an effort to divide Americans." He urged "mainstream Americans" to be "more outspoken on this issue. It's time it's slapped down once and for all."

Glenn got 57 percent of the vote.

Or there's Mark Walker in North Carolna, yet another Baptist minister, who was dreadfully concerned about his African American neighbors.

Walker, a Baptist pastor who wrote on Facebook that he "had the privilege of spending an hour with an African-American male who grew up in the inner city," but that "most of these Americans have no concept of the pride and joy when we, as parents, invest in our children."

Mark got 58 percent of the vote.

Or there's Ryan Zinke in Montana, who thinks Hillary Clinton is the Antichrist.

Ryan got 55 percent of the vote in a three-way race.

Or there's Gary Palmer in Alabama, a longtime Wingnut Welfare sublet who was endorsed by Rick Santorum, a remarkable array of the weasel class,  and every one of the 9,788 members of the extended Duggar family.

Gary got 64 percent of the vote. Against another Republican.

Ready to govern!

And, there was a Democratic argument to be made, even if necessarily categorized into (a) good and popular, (b) good and unpopular, and (c) bad and unpopular.  Categories (a) and (b) needed, in large measure, to be promulgated and marketed.
Category (c), into which issues such as wars, overreaching  surveillance, might be found, are catnip to Republicans and could have been obfuscated.

An objective of moving the polls rather than following them might not have been  such a bad idea.  And, trying to distance themselves from President Obama, the leader of their party, was an exercise in futility.  Ms. Lundgren Grimes and Ms. Michelle Nunn, pretending not to have any relationships with that man, was more fodder for late-night comedians than a winning idea.

The Republicans were more than eager to tie the electoral can of Obama to the tails of their opponents; the Democrats tied the bows.  And, then the Republicans, aided and abetted by the media,  worked to make sure that it looked like the country was going to hell in a hand-basket--Ebola everywhere, ISIS on the Mexican borders, and, of course, Benghazi.  Just elect the Republican obstructionists and we can get our country back--as we are known to be able to do (if you have a short memory).

So now, what is a country to do?  If the Republicans were smart they would make an attempt, over the next two years, to seem conciliatory and reasonable.  Ready to pass vanilla legislation. Show that they are asylum wardens not inmates--showing that they are not all that insane so to be trusted with the presidency.

This will be difficult for them to do,  The Joni Ernsts will not be able to contain their squealing.  And, McConnell and Boehner will not be able to either--being more on the lookout for knives, not so much in their backs as in other sensitive areas, given Senator-elect Ernst's experience in neutering pigs.  Symbolic votes will need to be taken: repeal the Affordable Care Act for starters in keeping with the House's repeated, but ineffective efforts without the Senate.