NOTHING MATTERS WE’RE PERMANENTLY DOOMED, Kansas Edition

As we’ve discussed before, you often see Brownback’s narrow election victory as evidence that Republicans are essentially bulletproof. The first problem with that argument is that if national Republicans declined even half as much at the ballot box as Brownback did, they’d be completely wiped out. The second problem is this:

For six years, Gov. Sam Brownback carried out a signature philosophy of cutting taxes and shrinking government across Kansas, a state dominated by his fellow Republicans.

But on Tuesday night, the state’s Republican-held Legislature overrode Mr. Brownback’s veto of a bill that would undo some of the tax cuts he pushed. The state Senate and House moved swiftly, narrowly voting only hours apart to turn back Mr. Brownback’s rejection of a tax increase aimed at raising about $1.2 billion over two years.

It was a remarkable rejection of the state’s tax-cutting approach after years of mounting uncertainty and unhappiness in Kansas over whether the tax cuts were working. That led to all-out revolt by Republican lawmakers who had grown increasingly frustrated over limits on the state’s spending on education and over state budget shortfalls.

There’s not, of course, going to be a similar policy revolt at the federal level anytime soon. But Republicans losing the House despite their yooge structural advantages can certainly happen.