More Of A Guideline Than A Rule...

That was quick. I can still hear Boner's gavel.

WASHINGTON — Many people knowledgeable about the federal budget said House Republicans could not keep their campaign promise to cut $100 billion from domestic spending in a single year. Now it appears that Republicans agree...

... Now aides say that the $100 billion figure was hypothetical, and that the objective is to get annual spending for programs other than those for the military, veterans and domestic security back to the levels of 2008, before Democrats approved stimulus spending to end the recession.

Yet “A Pledge to America,” the manifesto House Republicans published last September, included the promise, “We will roll back government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels, saving us at least $100 billion in the first year alone.”

Really, how can there be an argument: these are the most dishonest guys ever to darken the halls, and they got where they are by deliberate deception, counting on the bottomless gullibility of their voters.

Teabaggers.

Was there ever a group so thoroughly, so predictably, so obviously -- and so willingly -- deceived?

And before the naysayers (most of whom seem to have slunk off from here, unable to deal with having their bullshit called out) say it: nope, not Obamaphiles. Not even close. He's made good on most of his promises, and where he hasn't, it's not been for lack of trying. But these guys? They never meant a damn thing they said; never intended to do any of it. They've always known it was impossible. Why? Because it's failed every single time starting with Ronnie the Wonderful. Seeing opportunity, they lied their way in on the skids provided by teabaggers, financed by the super-wealthy, and trumpeted non-stop by Fox "news" and the rest of the RWS™.

It was never serious, other than maintaining tax cuts for the rich and the corporate, and calling it good for everyone else. What's so amazing is that, in office for only a day, they haven't even pretended otherwise.

Ho Hum

It's getting a little humdrum noting the speed with which teabagger-supported congressfolk are proving themselves to be no different from those they criticized. Seeking -- and getting -- lobbyist money while their words to the contrary during their campaigns are still vibrating in the air.

After Francisco "Quico" Canseco beat Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Tex.) as part of the Republican wave on Nov. 2, the tea party favorite declared: "It's going to be a new day in Washington."

Two weeks later, Canseco was in the heart of Washington for a $1,000-a-head fundraiser at the Capitol Hill Club. The event--hosted by Reps. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.) and Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.)--was aimed at paying off more than $1.1 million in campaign debts racked up by Canseco, much of it from his own pocket.

After winning election with an anti-Washington battle cry, Canseco and other incoming Republican freshmen have rapidly embraced the capital's culture of big-money fundraisers, according to new campaign-finance reports and other records.

Dozens of freshmen lawmakers have held receptions at Capitol Hill bistros and corporate townhouses in recent weeks, taking money from K Street lobbyists and other powerbrokers within days of their victories. Newly elected House members have raised at least $2 million since the election, according to preliminary Federal Election Commission records filed last week, and many more contributions have yet to be tallied.

....

"The lobbyists are all saying, 'Welcome to Washington; let me help pay off your debt,'" said Nancy Watzman, who tracks political fundraisers for the Sunlight Foundation, a watchdog group. "It's particularly interesting when so many of this year's freshmen were running against Washington. But as soon as they get elected, they come to Washington and put out their hand."

It was obvious from the moment teabaggers appeared on the scene that they were being played for suckers by the corporate money-men bankrolling them behind the scenes. How much more of this will it take for them to realize it?

I'm not the only one to see it. (Which is unsurprising, since it's like a sun shining at night.)

Dear Tea Party voter: You've been had.

When the good people of South Dakota voted last month to send Republican Kristi Noem to Congress, they probably believed that she would give no quarter to the lobbyists and special interest groups who enjoyed, as she put it, "throwing money at the feet of a member of Congress."

But since she defeated Democratic Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (in part by making an issue of Herseth Sandlin's marriage to a lobbyist), Noem has hired as her new chief of staff . . . a lobbyist! And on Tuesday afternoon, she was the guest of honor at a "Meet & Greet" with Washington high-rollers at the powerhouse lobbying firm Barbour Griffiths Rogers (BGR). Once these boys start throwing money at Noem's feet, she'll soon be chin deep in lobbyist greenbacks.

What's next? Finding out the earth revolves around the sun?