GOP strategy: Come up with ideas not good enough to persuade the Democrats; anything else is good

That’s the lesson to learn from Mitt Romney, who Jonathan Chait notices was endorsed by the National Review until the Democrats decided he made good policy ideas. Once Obama, Reid, and Pelosi adopted Romney’s health care plan, it was considered anathema and pretty much killed Romney’s chances of winning the Republican primary in 2012. Maybe that’s why the Republicans seem to be bereft of ideas. If they somehow persuade the Democrats to adopt them, they will be dirty. Or something.