The Milwaukee Journals dreamboat, Paul Ryan

Ryan’s hope: a new, and smarter, Republican Party

Paul Ryan and other Republican leaders are busy scratching out the old image of the Republican Party and rapidly trying to create a new one.

After a disappointing loss in November to President Barack Obama and the Democrats, Ryan, the congressman from Janesville and the GOP’s vice presidential candidate, is emphasizing “prudence.”

In so many words, Ryan is saying: Let’s stop being so dumb.

Or, as Bobby Jindal, the governor of Louisiana, put it so well the other day: “We must stop being the stupid party. It’s time for a new Republican Party that talks like adults.”

We quite agree. For too long, Republicans have talked down to their own voters (something, by the way, that Democrats are sometimes inclined to do as well).

Now, in speeches around the country - and in a meeting with the Editorial Board on Monday - Ryan sketched out a new version of the Republican message that on its face sounds more reasonable.

Believe. In the dream.