Totally Unserious

The recent Republican foray into the Theater of the Absurd, The "Pledge to America," is a 45-page comic book of a position paper that could probably have been whittled down to a couple of paragraphs on the back of a postcard. It is so lacking in substance that John Boehner, sitting across from a Fox News opinion journalist like Chris Wallace, would not and could not come up with one intelligent thing to say about it. Here's a link to a piece of the interview, only 1:28 long. Partial transcript below:

BOEHNER: Chris, we make it clear in [that booklet] that we're gonna lay out a plan to work toward a balanced budget and to deal with the entitlement crisis. This is time for us as Americans to have an adult conversation with each other about the serious challenges our country faces. And we can't have that serious conversation until we lay out the size of the problem. Now, once Americans understand how big the problem is, then we can begin to talk about potential solutions. But I am committed to having that adult conversation with the American people because it is important for the future of our kids and grandkids...

WALLACE: But forgive me, sir, isn't the right time to have the adult conversation now, before the election, when you have this document? Why not make a single proposal to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid?

BOEHNER: Chris, this is what happens here in Washington. Now when you start down that path, you invite all kinds of problems. I know. I've been there. I think that we need to do this in a more systematic way and have this conversation first. Let's not get to the potential solutions. Let's make sure Americans understand how big the problem is. Then we can begin to talk about possible solutions. And then work ourselves into those solutions that are doable.

Did you get that? Did you see how little Boehner actually said about what ideas the GOP has? That's because they have no ideas, nothing new that didn't get us into the problems we are now having. Because what domestic policy Obama has implemented since taking office -- creating a comprehensive healthcare reform package that actually is paid for, investing in American businesses like GM and the banks that may actually make money for the government, cutting taxes for the middle class, and creating a bank-paid bailout fund so future bank failures will not fall to taxpayers -- has incorporated a lot of what Republicans wanted. It's just that now they can't take credit for it. So, with this birdcage-liner of a document, Republicans are now trying to redefine the problem as something Obama created instead of sharing responsibility. It is the worst in American politics, and it's not exclusively Republican. It's just that now it's infused with racism, birtherism, xenophobia, Christianism, and Posse Comitatus-ism that it's now become a full-fledged boiling pot of bat-shit fucking crazy. (There, now I've dropped my f-bomb of the day.)

Until the Republicans own their mistakes, which will never happen; until they put forth some actual concrete solutions to deal with the debt, the deficit, and taxes, that includes examining the sacred cows of Social Security, defense, and Medicare (Part D in particular); until they become real Americans and work together with the party in power when they're in the minority (or with the party in the minority when they're in power); we will see more of this pseudo-serious circus acting.