That the supposed "serious" Republican budget is about as unserious (and predictable) as you would think should in itself be unsurprising. The modern Republican Party is predicated on a seeming paradox: one one hand, the bulk of Republicans seem completely uninterested in governance, as is evidenced by the lack of outrage at the policies of George W. Bush. On the other hand, they seem incredibly interested in it, so much so that any minor deviation from dogma will literally see the hounds sicced (?) upon you. Of course, like most paradoxes, this one can be easily resolved. One needs to stop thinking that most of the remaining Republicans are interested in an efficient and well run government. They aren't--they don't think such a thing is possible, despite evidence to the contrary. They don't even seem bothered by the concrete lack of progress on the major issues they care about--a mere dismissal and muttering about the darn liberal media seems enough.
Ultimately, what today's GOP seems to have internalized is that politics is a game, a contest of wills where the goal is to win. It's fortuitous that the media seems to agree with this interpretation, which is why Republicans still get such prominent space in the national conversation. Democrats, from what I can tell, don't seem to agree--at least, most don't. Hell, there are probably a few Republicans who don't either, but they're not the prominent ones. This is Karl Rove's toxic legacy, in which war and torture were just chips to throw around the table, ways of showing liberals as effete for having any distaste for unnecessary carnage. It's all in the game, of course. And all those Republican "pro-lifers" were either mute or supportive.
Ultimately, Republicans aren't stupid. If they start to get the sense that a certain attack is starting to backfire they'll drop it immediately, just like they did with their full-bore opposition to civil rights back in the 1960s and 1970s. But what they aren't likely to do yet is to try to bring about some healing and end the culture war, at least not for the time being. They'll have to when all the people who are still angry about busing and race riots and welfare queens die out and the next generation doesn't get the anger. But they can try to do it now, too. Might not thrill some elements of the base and the activists, but it would have the virtue of being the right thing to do, and it might work since President Obama seems to be interested in doing the same for the left. If they actually want to be trusted to wield power again it seems like a smart move.
