As long as the GOP can offer the appearance reform—by placing the same ideas in new, multicultural packaging (see: Marco Rubio)—it can likely convince the public—to say nothing of key elites—that it deserves power. To wit, the mere mention of poverty by Rubio and Paul Ryan was enough for moderate Republicans David Brooks and Ross Douthat to declare a new era of reform.

Jonathan Bernstein foresees other consequences:

[T]he dysfunction in the current GOP makes successful governing if they do win extremely difficult. I think we've seen that for some time, and I think it was part of why George W. Bush was such a poor president; there really are major governing penalties for finding it hard to accept reality.