Those Republicans

Brad DeLong frequently posts under the meme "Why Friends Don't Let Friends Support the Republican Party". Here are a few recent articles that fit that theme:

The New Republic writes Who Wants To Be Paul Ryan's Press Secretary?. "Hilariously, the result of Ryan's Dave-like search through the budget -- and the only example of a putative budget savings mentioned anywhere in the piece -- is his claim to have discovered a savings in the student loan program. In fact, this example is exactly the opposite of what Ryan (and the story) proclaim. The old federal student loan program guaranteed loans made from private banks to students. This gave the banks incentive to shovel money out the door, knowing Uncle Sam would back them up in case of failure, which of course happened constantly. President Clinton cut, and then President Obama eliminated,the subsidy to the banks, saving taxpayers tens of billions of dollars"

Think Progress wrote Boehner Admits Failing To Raise Debt Ceiling Would Be ‘A Disaster,’ But Takes It Hostage Anyway "Today, on Fox News Sunday, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) pulled a similar stunt. He first said that House Republicans aren’t willing to raise the debt ceiling unless doing so is accompanied by deep spending cuts, but then admitted that failing to raise the debt ceiling would be a ‘disaster’"

Waxman and Markey Release Republican Draft of proposed environment legislation. "Legislation Would Substitute Politics for Science, Strip EPA and State Authority to Regulate Carbon Emissions." Waxman said, “The Republicans have a lot of power, but they can’t amend the laws of nature. Gutting the Clean Air Act is only going to make our problems worse. This proposal threatens public health and energy security, and it undermines our economic recovery by creating regulatory uncertainty.”

Robert Reich rants about Why the Republican Budget Plan is a Hairball. "The federal budget is $3.8 trillion. The Republicans have just come up with their plan to cut the federal budget. They’ve found $32 billion of cuts. What happened to John Boehner’s $100 billion budget-cutting commitment? What became of Paul Ryan’s big ideas? Where did all the roaring and raging on the right during the 2010 election go?"

Update: Here's another. David Frum thinks we should improve our infrastructure, but "Unfortunately, infrastructure investment has been a victim of our broken politics. The money does not go to the best projects. The money is earmarked by the most powerful politicians. We need a new tunnel under the Hudson. We get a bridge to nowhere." Angry Bear points out, "The transportation bill which included funding for the bridge to Gravina island was a monstrosity -- passed by a House and Senate with Republican majorities and signed into law by George Bush Jr. Also Republican governor Christopher Christie's decision to cancel the project to build a new tunnel under the Hudson was idiotic. There is an easy solution to both problems noted by Frum. Never vote for a Republican again. Maybe maybe if there were no elected Republicans Frum could find a decision made by a Democrat to criticize."