Nancy Pelosi said, “the American people voted to restore integrity and honesty in Washington, D.C., and the Democrats intend to lead the most honest, most open and most ethical Congress in history.”

In spite of those words, she backed John Murtha over Steny Hoyer for the position of majority leader, even as conservative talk radio hosts played over and over again a decades old tape of Murtha’s involvement in the Abscam scandal.

Another issue that Democrats used to out-Republican Republicans on election day was that of spending. While many Democrats running were on record in favor of reforming the earmarks process, Republicans pointed out that Murtha was one of the worst abusers of the practice.

According to The Hill, "Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) told a group of Democratic moderates on Tuesday that an ethics and lobbying reform bill being pushed by party leaders was “total crap,” but said that he would work to enact the legislation because Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) supports it."

John Murtha did not get enough votes to defeat Steny Hoyer for the majority leader position, but the very strong support he received from Pelosi demonstrated her decision to lead in typical "San Francisco liberal" fashion."

There are some similar problems in the Senate where the culture of corruption theme might not be playing so well if ABC News’ reports that Jack Abramoff is sharing with authorities information on “six to eight seriously corrupt Democratic senators" are true.

And if that doesn’t give voters enough reason for a good case of buyer’s remorse, this week Hillary Clinton signaled that HillaryCare is making a comeback.

I can’t say whether or not the American people will be shocked by the Congress they have gotten, after voting for so many moderate Democrats last week. I doubt many have even realized it yet. What I do know is that based on just the past week’s worth of words and actions by Pelosi and other Democrat leaders, the GOP campaign ads in 2008 will write themselves. That “culture of corruption” one alone should be a beauty.