GOP's Policies Are Cheap, Incoherent

Sometimes, Ruth Marcus thinks it would be nice if the country had a divided government. It would force the GOP to quit posturing and start governing, and allow Democrats to make hard choices on entitlement spending. “That’s the theory. Then there’s John Boehner,” she laments in the Washington Post. The would-be House speaker gave a speech outlining his agenda yesterday, and it was “a depressing blend of tired ideas, tired-er one liners, and cheap attacks.”

The pollsters must have told Boehner to say “job-killing” as much as possible, because he uttered the phrase 12 times. “This is bumper-sticker politics, not a real economic plan,” complains Marcus. Boehner’s plan boils down to this: We can’t raise taxes, even on the rich, because we’re in a recession. But we should also cut spending. That’s incoherent; if tax hikes are harmful, spending cuts are, too. He didn’t list any specific cuts either—“an enormous dodge.” We’d all benefit “from a responsible opposition party. I’m still looking for evidence of one.” (More John Boehner stories.)