G.O.P. on a Spending-Cut 'Frenzy,' 'Destroying Vital Government Programs With Gleeful Abandon'

More of the sober, substantive commentary we've come to expect from the nation's leading newspaper: "But that wasn't enough for [Speaker John Boehner's] fanatical freshmen, who demanded that it be cut by $61 billion, destroying vital government programs with gleeful abandon."

Clay Waters

February 17, 2011 - 1:58pm

The Times has hit on a loaded word to describe Republican attempts to trim the $1.1 trillion federal budget deficit: "Frenzy."

Here's the lead to congressional reporter Carl Hulse's report on House Speaker John Boehner's quest for cuts, "Boehner in His Element as Spending Cuts Elicit Free-Flowing House Debate [1]":

For Speaker John A. Boehner, the budget-cutting frenzy taking place on the House floor merges two of his animating political passions - the need to shrink federal spending and the willingness to risk a free-flowing debate.

But for true hostility in defense of big government and Obama's big-spending priorities, go to Thursday's lead editorial, "Out of Control in the House [2]," the lead of which was hysterical in every sense of the word.

Are there any adults in charge of the House? Watching this week's frenzied slash-and-burn budget contest, we had to conclude the answer to that is no.

First Speaker John Boehner's Republican leadership proposed cutting the rest of the 2011 budget by $32 billion. But that wasn't enough for his fanatical freshmen, who demanded that it be cut by $61 billion, destroying vital government programs with gleeful abandon.

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