“As the dozens of members of the House Republican Conference left the White House where they’d spoken with President Obama about the deficit and job creation, Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., had a one-word review of the mood in the meeting.

“‘Frosty is the word,’ Gingrey said…

“The president added that he is all for a reduction of demagoguery, an issue he understands since he is the ‘job killing, death panel, probably-wasn’t-born-here president.’…

“Ryan told the president that he is making a sincere attempt to address a problem, and he challenged the president: “Mr. President, the demagoguery only stops if the Leaders stop it.”

“His fellow House Republicans gave him a standing ovation.”

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“Ryan told reporters outside the White House that he ‘simply explained what our plan is’ to Obama during a meeting in the East Room with the House GOP – after Democrats and Obama’s nascent presidential campaign seized on the Medicare plan as a central strategy for 2012.

“‘It’s been mis-described by the president and others,’ Ryan said. He added that he wanted to clarify his position with Obama ‘so that in the future, he won’t mischaracterize it.’…

“Rep. Candice Miller, a Michigan Republican who is one of the more moderate voices in an increasingly conservative conference, said Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and others laid down an important marker – urging the president to produce his own detailed budget cutting plan to counter Ryan’s…

“Obama’s response, according to Miller: ‘He said that anything I propose would have no change of being approved by your conference.'”

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“A freshman GOP lawmaker rejected an invitation to the White House on Wednesday, saying he didn’t want to be ‘lectured’ by President Obama.

“‘I have respectfully declined the president’s invitation to the White House today,’ Rep. Jeff Landry (La.) said in a statement. ‘I don’t intend to spend my morning being lectured to by a president whose failed policies have put our children and grandchildren in a huge burden of debt.’…

“‘Until the president produces a responsible deficit reduction plan, I’m not going to the White House to negotiate with myself. Our conference has put out for months where we would start the process,’ Landry continued.”

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“This ‘Party of No’ rhetoric was parroted by nearly every liberal writer. It is less common today, now that the tables have turned. The new Republican House majority has passed a serious proposal to reform the broken entitlement system and avert national insolvency. Not only has Reid refused to work with the GOP on a budget, but he said it would be ‘foolish’ for Democrats to release one of their own. And last Wednesday, Senate Democrats gave new meaning to the label the ‘Party of No’ when they held a series of four budget votes. Not a single Democrat voted for any budget proposal, including Obama’s own plan, which was rejected by a unanimous 97-to-0 vote.

“Democrats have settled on a political strategy of isolating and attacking the Ryan plan instead of offering constructive solutions that could leave them open to attack. If history is any guide, this is a winning election strategy. But it is not necessarily responsible governance.”

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