By Yael T. Abouhalkah, Kansas City Star Editorial Page columnist

It's the day after Election Day, and the finger-pointing has begun in earnest by Republicans across America. They are on the attack against each other after losing the presidency and dozens of congressional seats.

Democrats will love the bloodletting to come in the next few months; the GOP not so much.

The blame game for now is being aimed at:

-- John McCain and the pathetic what's-my-plan-today" campaign. Nothing he hurled at Barack Obama stuck. Not the spread the wealth charge. Not the attacks on Obama's associates. Not the attempts to link Obama to terrorists and an unsafe future for America.

-- Sarah Palin's lack of qualifications to be vice president, which should have been obvious to any vetting committee.

-- George Bush's rock-bottom approval ratings, which left him unable to help McCain during the campaign.

-- The tanking of the economy, laid by many at the feet of Republicans who had stripped away needed regulation of Wall Street's financial bigwigs.

-- And, of course, the liberal media, which fell in love early with Obama, got tougher during the Democratic primaries, but paid a lot of attention during the presidential campaign to the foibles of the McCain-Palin ticket.

Add these together, and Republicans have some nasty months of hate-filled discussions ahead of them.