Republicans: The Party Of No Substance

Yesterday's big news in the U.S. political circles was the Republican Party's unveiling of their alternative budget proposal, in response to President Obama's budget. To say that it's been ridiculed far and wide would be putting it mildly. The White House Press Secretary, Robert Gibbs, mocked it during a press conference later in the day ("There's one more picture of a windmill than there is of a chart of numbers... there's exactly one picture of a windmill... it's interesting to have a budget that doesn't contain any numbers") and various news anchors have made hay out of the fact that, shockingly, the long-awaited and much ballyhooed alternative boils down to "reduce spending, cut taxes and shrink the deficit" with absolutely no details on how to possibly make any of that work any better than Bush's attempts did.

Of all the things I've read about it today, though, Ezra Klein had perhaps the best commentary of them all. Highlights include:

"It reads like what would happen if The Onion put together a budget. 'Area Man Releases Proposal for 2010 Federal Spending Priorities.'""

and

"But it does have this: 'Republicans will be on the side of quality versus mediocrity, affordability versus unsustainable debt, and freedom of care versus bureaucrats in control. And we will be on the side of patients, doctors, and the American people.' They are also in favor of good things rather than bad things, moving forward rather than going backwards, the hobbits rather than the orcs, and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom."