GOP Response Budget or 'The Dog Ate My Homework'

[url]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#29904566[/url]

This Rachel Maddow clip is CLASSIC. For those of my friends here who would rather put a cigarette out on their tongue rather than watch 5 seconds of Ms. Maddow's show, let me paraphrase:

- Barack Obama dares...DOUBLE DOG DARES...his critics to stop taking potshots from the sidelines and actually come up with their own budget if they're so smart.
- the GOP takes the bait and Boehner trots out this 19-page 'budget proposal' which is literally not much more than 'Barack Obama Sucks' and 'the only thing we could come up with is to give the wealthiest Americans the largest tax cut in American history...a tax cut that dwarfs Bush's deepest cut by 10% but completely excludes any mention of healthcare, tackling the deficit or...well...anything else other than criticism of the Democrats' proposal'
- In doing so, in playing right into Obama's trap, the heat now comes off of Obama's budget and onto...you guessed it...the GOP budget...the one that doesn't really exist because Boehner said that it won't actually be ready until next week...

So why didn't they just hold the press conference NEXT WEEK when they had an actual budget to propose? It's the same reason Michael Steele is RNC Chairman...it's the same reason Sarah Palin was selected as VP candidate. The Republican Party has become the party of 'Instant and Predictable Reactionism' in the face of their reputation for staid, patient, well-thought out responses to things.

They've become a party of panickers. A party of 'quick...do something...I don't know what...just do SOMETHING' showmen who don't really HAVE a solution for the budget crisis but feel the need to grandstand and put themselves, once again, in a position to look unprepared, grumpy and obstructionist.

Congratulations.