The refrain is a common one: “We lost our way and broke the trust with the American people. We’ve learned our lesson and can be trusted to govern again.”

You’ll hear it from virtually every Republican running for national office. Their losses in 2006 and 2008 didn’t come about because conservativism is a failed ideology that attracts sundry incompetents, snake-oil salesman, and common criminals (Tom Delay, Jack Abramoff, Mark Foley, Bob Ney, Larry Craig, Ed Schrock, David Vitter, John Sweeney, Vito Fosella, Rick Renzi, John Doolittle, Duke Cunningham, Scooter Libbey… and now, Mark Rubio); nay, Republicans failed conservativism. And they promise it won’t happen again.

Except, it’s already happening. One high-profile Republican after another has lined up to endorse Mark Rubio. It’s almost as if Republican expect their candidates to bilk donors by purchasing grocieries, music and electronics with the Party’s credit card. And then not declare the ill-gotten wealth as income, thus introducing tax evasion to the mix.

I asked Senator Session about this yesterday…