Those madcap Republicans

From The Hill, April 30: "House Republicans have stayed united behind a budget proposal imposing major changes to Medicare after a two-week recess highlighted by attacks on the plan."

From the Post, yesterday: "Heading into key debt talks with the White House, congressional Republicans publicly split Thursday over the prospects for their ambitious proposal to transform Medicare."

While Medicare's original assassin, Paul Ryan, was conceding that his party is "under no illusion" that they just committed anything but the most asinine, suicidal political stunt in this nation's history, and would now work overtime to act as though it never happened, the quivering upper lip of John Boehner was insisting that "nothing is off the table except for raising taxes."

So here's the deal. Until Election Day, Democrats' position on the Republicans' position will be that of the Republican speaker's, while Republicans' position will be that not of the Republican speaker but of a disgraced wonk and apostate committee chairman.