"Republicans lost because even with a veto-proof majority"
We never had a veto-proof majority. With regards to the Senate, we'd have to have had well past 60 Senators. We haven't had that many since 1909.
"We never had a veto-proof majority"
Sixty votes could have been found. I don't say it would have been easy, but I do know they could have been found. But many of the problems of the last Congress don't seem to have had the usual "gridlock-R-vs-D" quality to them, and instead seem to have other motivations: like positioning oneself for presidential bid (Frist with refusing the Nuclear Option , McCain with the Gang of 14 nonsense, both sacrificing porinciple for the sake of presenting themselves at a future date as "a moderate"). Or writing border fences into legislation, but refusing to fund them (i.e. Don;t worry businessman who bought and sold me, you can hire all the illegal aliens you want, I only voted for it to give me cover with the peasants). When they weren't being dishonest, they were pandering; throwing bones to "the Base" (i.e. Right-to-Lifers and religious bigots) -- such as the Terri Schiavo farce, the Faith-Based Initiattive, dangling "Strict Constitutionalists" before the Anti-abortion crowd -- without having to actually accomplish anything: Terri's still dead (and I'll bet Mr. Hastert and Frist can adequately explain how stomping all over Marital Rights in the process was somehow a conservative principle, right? And then to make the claim of "Defending Marriage" out of the other side of your face? Why, that's just too rich...), Bush stopped funding Faith-Based a long time ago, and how's that Court thing working out so far?.