Those brand new humble Republicans

Joe Conason is good this week. Here's an excerpt from his latest column:

All that Republicans have to do, according to Mr. Limbaugh and his imitators, is to wait for the Obama administration to sink under the weight of its own liberalism, because then disillusioned Americans will return the one true faith of Reaganite conservatism to power. Today, America is ruled by "the most liberal -- far-out radical, liberal president and Democrat Party ever, at least in any of our lifetimes," he says, so "the opportunity to contrast the Republican Party and conservatism with what Obama is doing is great. It's easy. It's profound."

In short, there is no need to re-brand, let alone rethink or reconsider. Forget the listening tour. As Limbaugh put it, "We need a teaching tour."

That kind of arrogance is startling, given the thrashing that Republicans and conservatives continue to suffer in the voting booths, on Capitol Hill and in public-opinion surveys. The defection of Sen. Arlen Specter to the Democrats, in a desperate attempt to save his threatened Pennsylvania seat, was only the latest in a series of severe warnings that the GOP is endangered. In New York's conservative-leaning 20th Congressional District, an unknown Democrat edged out the leader of the State Assembly's Republicans -- after the national party had virtually announced a victory in advance of the special election there.