How Does This Compromise Thing Work Again?

From an article in the Syracuse Post Standard in late November 2010:  "Central New York’s first woman elected to Congress says she can bring the residents of her sharply divided district together while standing strong on her conservative principles.                                                                                                                               


"In an hour-long interview Wednesday — the day after Democratic incumbent Dan Maffei conceded the race for the 25th Congressional District — Republican Ann Marie Buerkle pledged that she would run an open, inclusive office that would renew her constituents’ faith in Washington. And she reiterated her firm stances on issues that bitterly divide the district and the country: defunding and repealing health care reform, making all the Bush-era tax cuts permanent, cutting corporate taxes and regulations, questioning the scientific validity of climate change, and eliminating of the federal Department of Education.                                                                                                                                                                                                             


" 'We may not agree on every issue, but constituents should feel that they can come to me and we can talk and we can find common ground,' she said. 'And that’s really my biggest task — to work hard so that the people in this district feel they have a voice in Washington.' "