For a couple of decades, supporters of private school vouchers have insisted that Americans really want public funding for private tuition, but elected officials won’t budge. So, proponents keep putting vouchers to statewide referenda — and they keep losing.

Utah was supposed to be the breakthrough for the voucher crowd. It’s perhaps the most consistently reliable conservative state in the union, with a high percentage of religious families who might want tax dollars for their church’s schools. Under these circumstances, they’d finally win one, right? Wrong — Utah voters rejected the latest statewide voucher scheme by a wide margin. The measure lost in every county in the state.

The funny part, however, is the reaction from the leading supporter of the voucher effort.

Voucher supporter Overstock.com chief executive Patrick Byrne - who bankrolled the voucher effort - called the referendum a “statewide IQ test” that Utahns failed.

“They don’t care enough about their kids. They care an awful lot about this system, this bureaucracy, but they don’t care enough about their kids to think outside the box,” Byrne said.

Got that? Disagree with the right on voucher schemes that don’t work, and you’re a child-hating moron.

Haven’t guys like Byrne ever heard of losing with dignity? Maybe a little class?