“[C]’mon, John Boehner: The only reason you’re wielding that comically oversized gavel as Speaker of the House at all is because of public revulsion at outta-control federal spending. And you can’t think of one program to cut?

“From an interview with NBC’s Brian Williams:

WILLIAMS: Name a program right now that we could do without.

BOEHNER: I don’t think I have one off the top of my head…

“The GOP got kicked to the curb in 2006 because they were up-to-the-neck-complicit with the profligate and stupid spending (and bellicose) ways of George W. Bush. If after four years in the supposed wilderness you get power and the first thing you do is walk back the suggestion that you’re gonna cut $100 billion out of fiscal year 2011 (still without a budget!), and then your main guy bumbles the query above…well, you’re not winning any fans among the growing ranks of independents (read: crypto-libertarians) who want a smaller government that does less and costs less.”

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“House Republicans on Thursday trimmed about $35 million from the House’s operating budget, a move that Speaker John Boehner hailed as ‘a strong signal’ of the new Congress’ ‘commitment to making the tough choices necessary to end Washington’s job-killing spending binge.’

“But while $35 million is a lot of money to the average American, it’s worth thinking about just how ‘strong’ a signal the House really sent. Consider: According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the government’s projected spending for Fiscal Year 2010 is roughly $3.6 trillion…

“[T]he government spends, on average, nearly $7 million every minute. That means the cost-cutting measure yesterday only saved taxpayers enough to cover about five minutes worth of spending – less time than it takes to hold the average congressional vote…

“If you hold tax revenues at the same level, you’ll thus need to come up with $1.4 trillion in spending cuts to stop borrowing and balance the budget – which means cutting nearly 39 percent of the budget. You could cut the entire defense budget as well as funding for education and transportation infrastructure and you still wouldn’t be close.”

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“The Democratic National Committee is firing away at House Republicans for what appears to be a backtracking of a pledge they made during the midterm election campaign.”