"We have lost the ability to connect with people's value systems, and we're going to have to work to get that back."

Retiring Democrat Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia wrote for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Secular socialism, heavy taxes, big spending, weak defense, limitless lawsuits and heavy regulation — that pack of beagles hasn't caught a rabbit in the South or Midwest in years.

"The most recent failed nominee for president stands as proof that the national Democratic Party will continue to dwindle."

Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., noted: "I think that the Democratic Party nationally is perceived as being out of step with mainstream values. I want our party to do a better job of speaking to matters of faith and family."

The more clueless among them, however, are merely wailing.

"We have lost just about everything that we can lose," moaned San Francisco Democrat Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, who inadvertantly helped re-elect Bush by making same-sex marriage a galvanizing issue, whined to the New York Times: "There is a sense of helplessness that we couldn't tip the election in any way. We couldn't do it rhetorically or in an actual vote. You feel powerless."

Even though the Democrats chose the Senate's No. 1 leftist for their presidential nominee, Green Party leader Jo Chamberlain told the San Francisco Chronicle that leftists should now abandon the Democratic Party (uh, who exactly would remain, then?).

"We stepped aside and told the Democrats, 'Go get the White House,' and they failed," she grumbled. "So now, the progressive left is suffering because of their poor planning and leadership."

Now that's what you call progress.

Editor's note: