When Senators Richard Shelby from arch-conservative Alabama and Roger Wicker and Thad Cochran from ultra-conservative Mississippi and Lamar Alexander from Tennessee and Kit Bond from Missouri and Lisa Murkowski from Alaska voted yesterday with almost all the left-wing Democrat Senators against Senator John McCain's amendment -- which would have held spending in Obama's FY09 Omnibus appropriations bill at last year's level -- these 6 Republicans doomed the Republican Party (the "Stupid Party" in common parlance) to indefinite minority.

Three of these Senators are from the very deep south states of Mississippi and Alabama! Only 32 Senators voted for the McCain amendment including 4 Democrats: Senators Evan Bayh (Indiana), Russ Feingold (Wisconsin), Claire McCaskill (Missouri) and surprisingly, Maria Cantwell (Washington);

Senators Alexander, Bond, Cochran, Murkowski, Shelby, and Wicker are 6 very key reasons why the Senate will remain in Democrat hands for years and years to come. Thad Cochran, the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee responsible for appropriating tens of thousands of pork projects and countless billions of dollars, has to be one of the biggest pork-spending Republican Senators in the history of the Republican Party. Senators Richard Shelby, Kit Bond, Lamar Alexander and Lisa Murkowski are also on the Senate Appropriations Committee. Talk about conflict of interest!

The Senate leadership needs to deal with this terrible problem of big-spending, pork-spending, irresponsible Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee. If not, they will be in the minority for decades as they were in the wilderness for some 40 years during the 50's, 60's, 70's, etc.

Liberal Republican Senator Arlen Specter, also on the Appropriations Committee -- up for reelection next year and probably facing conservative former Republican Congressman Pat Toomey in the primary who barely lost to Specter in the Republican primary in 2004, of course voted against the McCain amendment. Susan Collins, Republican from Maine, also on the Appropriations Committee voted no on the McCain Amendment.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell from Kentucky said after the McCain amendment vote: "In the midst of an economic crisis, government has an obligation to show restraint .... it has become clear that many in Congress still think government operates in a different realm of reality than the rest of the country. Apparently, they don’t think the federal government is obligated to make any of the tough decisions that millions of American families are making every day."

The American people are hoping the Senate Republican leadership steps up to the plate and reins in the big-spending Republicans in their party, especially those on the Senate Appropriations Committee. If not, they will doom their party to permanent minority.