The Fundamental Unseriousness of the GOP

You know, really, what does the GOP think this is, high school? This is all a bunch of adolescent hooey.  Show business, not statesmanship.  Anyone voting out a good Democrat to put in one of these Republicans has got to be out of their mind.

In a lumber yard near Dulles International Airport Thursday morning, House Republicans handed out copies of their pledge, which, among other things, promises to rein in an "arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites."

Yet moments after taking the stage to face the cameras, Republican leaders appointed themselves arrogant elites. They compared themselves to the founding fathers and likened their actions at Tart Lumber Co. to the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told the reporters he would speak slowly and with clarity, "just as John Hancock boldly signed his name to the Declaration of Independence so even Britain's King George could read it."

McCarthy, who led the pledge initiative, piled on the sentimentality, declaring: "We pledge to uphold the model for our country our founders envisioned, a grander America, the exception among the nations of the earth, where promise of liberty refreshes the hopes of mankind!"

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) then read passages from the GOP pledge that paraphrase the Declaration of Independence: "Every American citizen is endowed with certain rights from their creator. When our government charts a course that endangers those rights, the people -- indeed, the people! -- have the right to demand a new agenda from their government."

The flaws quickly became apparent Thursday morning when the lawmakers made the mistake of taking questions. "There are not many specifics in here about how you would get to the balanced budget if you plan to extend all the tax cuts and expand defense spending," the AP's Julie Hirschfeld Davis pointed out. "So can you give us some more details?"

John Boehner, the man who would be House speaker if Republicans win, responded that "by having the spending cap at 2008 levels, we can save $100 billion a year."

For the record, with a budget deficit of $1.3 trillion this year, the GOP pledge to cut $100 billion would take care of not quite 8 percent of the problem.

Getting rid of earmarks? Not in the pledge. Dealing with the millions of illegal immigrants? Not in the pledge. Reforming Social Security and Medicare? Not in the pledge. And on social issues such as marriage and abortion, "we are not going to be any different than what we've been," Boehner asserted.

When it comes to the really tough problems, all Boehner would say is that "it's time for us as Americans to have an adult conversation with each other." But an adult conversation was not to be had at Tart Lumber. Instead came a collection of campaign slogans aimed at President Obama: "tyranny..... future hangs in the balance..... road to bankruptcy..... disastrous policies of the current administration."