Being a Republican means never taking responsibility, never saying you're sorry and talking out of both sides of your mouth without a trace of shame. While the Democratic Party has been handed a veritable goldmine worth of weaponry to use in the 2010 midterms should the economy show marketable improvement with step #1 being finalized tonight, that hasn't stopped the disloyal opposition from already sprinkling seasoning on the so-called "pork barrel projects" they've spent the past three weeks savaging to any corporate media outlet in sight.
As reported by McClatchy, there is no depth to which the Grand Obstructionist Party will sink to have their cake and eat it too.
Exhibit A:
Rep. John Mica was gushing after the House of Representatives voted Friday to pass the big stimulus plan.
"I applaud President Obama's recognition that high-speed rail should be part of America's future," the Florida Republican beamed in a press release.
But Mica wasn't the only Republican congresscritter eager to position himself as bringing home the local bacon while toeing the Limbaugh line of NO:
Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, also had nice things to say in a press release.
Young boasted that he "won a victory for the Alaska Native contracting program and other Alaska small business owners last night in H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."
And to top off the stupid is as stupid does trifecta:
Mike Steel, a spokesman for House GOP Leader John Boehner of Ohio, at first ducked when asked about Mica and Young issuing press releases praising the bill they'd opposed.
"I don't work for Mica or Young," Steel said initially.
But then he explained that what Mica and Young did in touting aspects of the bill was in fact consistent with the Republican message.
"Being supportive of one portion of a trillion dollar bill, but voting against the entire trillion dollar bill, is perfectly reasonable," Steel said.
No matter how cynical you are about the Republicans, they always manage to exceed even the lowest of expectations. No matter how badly you believe they will behave, they never fail to perform even worse than you had imagined.