The budget proposal did much damage to the GOP’s credibility.

Among whom, particularly?

These are the bedrock talking points of the GOP, and have been for years.

No, that’s precisely the point , they have not been the talking points for years. Specifically for the last eight years, we’ve been steadily moving away from those talking points, and the values underneath those talking points. That’s exactly the point that this thing was supposed to begin to address. You I can discuss whether or not that was an effective move, but the logic behind it is sound.

Was there anybody in America that didn’t know that already?

A reasonable question. But a declaration of values is seldom worthless, particularly in the realm of politics.

I mean, look, somebody could logically asked the same question about the democrats. Is there any question that they’re going to be for higher taxes last offense and more government control on every possible discussion that comes up?

Yet, I don’t see anybody complaining about the number of times and what they restate their position. There’s a reason that they do that of course; it is to reinforce their base. Seems to me, that’s where the republicans fell down in the last election ; their base simply wasn’t with them.

The question is — do we need this?

As a positional paper, the Repubs state officially that they are for tax cuts, shrinking the size of the federal government, expanded offshore drilling, and so forth. Was there anybody in America that didn’t know that already? These are the bedrock talking points of the GOP, and have been for years.
Its nice to re-state them and all, but bringing it out the way they did was laughable and embarassing.

@Sal:
“Why can’t we elect repub leaders with brains?”
Because they are politicans — the Dems hardly do any better.
When the prez race started, I looked at the full field on both sides and wept. These were the best and brightest America had to offer? Jon Stewart made a quip about how we had enough candidates to hold a baseball game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2Xk30-Kybs&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Ftpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com%2F&feature=player_embedded

He believes that the individual American creates prosperity and good jobs not the government!!

Republicans are aiming not to win the budget battle, but to re-establish the differentiation between the parties. Having lost their image of fiscal sobriety during the Bush years, Republicans now are struggling to re-establish their brand. At the very least they are offering a choice: free market health care vs. government-run, nationalized care; bailouts vs. getting failing companies off the dole; and higher vs. lower taxes. Without the necessity of rounding up votes they have the luxury of painting the stark differences in political philosophy between the two parties.

Will it “work”? Well, it is not going to pass, of course. But that is not its aim. In a sense the Republican budget plan “works” by existing, by reminding voters that massive taxing and spending is not the only alternative. Provided the Republicans oppose the Obama budget en masse (which is highly likely), they will be positioned to argue in the years ahead, and most clearly in 2010, that Obama “owns” the budget and our fiscal outlook.

The fact is, there would have been no difference whatsoever if they came in with a fully dressed budget ready to go. Even if they thought the Democrats were going to take any Republican budget proposal seriously, which you and I both know they will not, Consider that the democrats don’t even bother reading the bills that they know are going to get passed into law. What indication do we have that any of them would have read a proposal that would have had no chance whatsoever of passage?

Jennifer is right on this one. Ryan’s alternative, such as it is, or such as that might have been, regardless, is already irrelevant. At least, irrelevant in terms of actually becoming law.

Now, becoming a positional document going forward, that’s a whole ‘nother matter.