The GOP in less than one minute

FactCheck.org variously described portions of the House Republicans' "Pledge" as "not true," "simply not true," a "bogus assertion," an "exaggeration," a "misrepresentation," "deceptive," and "misleading."

The Sunday NY Times editorialized that even as "campaign rhetoric" the Pledge outdid itself in "extravagant promises and bluster."

On CNN's "State of the Union" Republican Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn assured us that once her party is in the majority, "earmarks will be a thing of the past." Her GOP co-guest, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, exclaimed that we should be "paying down the deficit [sic]."

NBC's "Meet the Press" entertained us with the TARP-bashing likes of Mike Pence, who was literally momentarily speechless when confronted by David Gregory's speculation about the even more egregious financial horrors that awaited us in the absence of the now-happily maligned TARP.

And on ABC's "This Week," Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell managed to evade virtually every question put to him by host Christiane Amanpour, whether it was about the wisdom of further fatterning fat cats on a costly diet of more unbalanced budgets, about his fantastical vision of somehow otherwise balancing a grossly unbalanceable budget, or about his party's primaries' offerings of, quite simply, unbalanced candidates.

All of which is vastly, Democratically reminiscent of "Saturday Night Live" 's 2000 version of Al Gore, in the personage of Jon Lovitz: "I can't believe I'm losing to [these guys]."

Comments

[colin]

not that it's very important, but Lovitz was playing Dukakis from '88. Gore's catchphrase was "lock box" as done by Darrell Hammond.

[P.M.]

I'm mortified. That's what I get for not corroborating everything, even comedians and their comedic lines. Yet I'll let it stand uncorrected, since at least the sentiment remains valid, as Colin, who has my thanks, notes.

[Marc McKenzie]

It's not a big deal to me (in terms of the line), because the sentiment is valid. The Republicans do not give a Tinker's damn about fixing the economy. Their "pledge" is utter nonsense.

And yet, still, many of us who are liberal still continue to point the gun at ourselves...and fire away.

Great post, as always, PM.