The GOP's uninterrupted talking points

THE MOST THAT can be said about the Republican response to President Obama's jobs speech is that the plot didn't thicken. It's already thick with the same well-rehearsed Tea Party talking points. A lot of TV interview time could be saved if you bunched all of these characters together and called out"Ready, choir": cut taxes, cut spending. In unison!

That's it. We'll be back in a moment for tonight's baseball scores.

The likelihood of the Republicans doing anything to make the economy (read: Obama) look good before the 2012 election is not an option for the president's opponents who have been out to crush him since the minute he entered the Oval Office. Take House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the Virginia Narcissus with an expansive view of himself. Cantor immediately declared of his side, "We're serious and we have a vision". That, of course, suggests that Obama is trying to win over Americans as he prepares for his own Comedy Central show.

Then there's Rep. Paul Ryan, of Wisconsin, whose grandiose economic schemes have been shredded more than once. He accused the president of being "excessively partisan." Go figure for a GOP caucus that engages in frenzied partisanship before and after every Pledge of Allegiance.

And then Ohio's Rep. Jim Jordan, who may be to the right of the Tea Party, trashed the speech by comparing it to the movie "Groundhog Day." Clever reference from a guy who seems to rely on his farm life for his imagery.

And Michele Bachmann, perhaps feeling less than cheery as the pundits have summarily erased her from the list of presidential contenders, declared the Obama plan DOA. She's no longer a player, we're being told. But what about the media-driven fuss leading up to the charade in Iowa, which was supposed to be a sort of winner-take-all ascent to the White House. She won, and all that, but ...

So shall we now add her to the humbled list of wannabes that for their brief 15 minutes of fame were declared the people's choice? Think Donald Trump,Tim Pawlenty, Sarah Palin (the Divine one) Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, and ...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. The only one still standing that I haven't included is Newt Gingrich. But he was the only one who ever considered himself to be a serious contender in the first place.