Why are Republicans facing minority status in all branches of government?

George Will believes it all comes back to ethics and earmarks, and the fact that the Republican majority failed to control its more pork-hungry impulses.

In his State of the Union address, the president vowed to veto any appropriation bill "that does not cut the number and cost of earmarks in half." Coburn tartly notes that although Congress hardly needs 5,500 earmarks -- half of last year's total -- the president's goal would be met if Republicans themselves quit earmarking. That fact goes far to explain the Republicans' current and future minority status.