Smoke and Mirrors

'    "They asked us to join them in another Washington effort to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people. They offered us the opportunity to participate in the kind of deliberate deception of the public that has given public service such a bad name in recent years.

    "We all saw how it worked. The Administration carefully leaked to the media, without any details, the idea that it was willing to go along with trillions of dollars in spending cuts.

    "The lack of detail concealed the fact that the savings they were supposedly willing to support was at best smoke and mirrors. The hope here was that the budget gimmicks and deferred decision-making they actually supported would have the appearance of serious belt-tightening.

    "But the practical effect would have been at most about a couple of billion dollars in cuts up front with empty promises of more to follow. We've seen this kind of thing before. It's just this kind of sleight of hand governing that's put our nation more than $14 trillion in debt. And I will not associate myself with it. I refuse to join in an effort to fool the American people.'

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/exclusive-mcconnell-to-obama-eat-your-own-darn-peas/2011/03/29/gIQAqastAI_blog.html