Tea Party Fantasy Flick

On the nation’s movie screens, the Sarah Palin-as-saint movie is running a dismal second to Harry Potter, but in Washington, the Tea Party is offering its own fantasy to entertain Americans until the economic apocalypse premiers on Aug. 2.

“The House and Senate this week,” reports The Caucus, “plan to hold politically charged but largely symbolic votes on fiscal policy in what Congressional leaders hope is a prelude to moving ahead with a plan to increase the federal debt limit...

“Given the likelihood of attempts to filibuster any proposal in the Senate, just moving legislation through to passage could consume the next two weeks, including the weekends.”

This gives new meaning to the traditional dramatic category of “dumb show,” a silent pantomime. The GOP actors have all kinds of words like “cap, cut and balance” and “balanced budget amendment,” but they are all gibberish to serve as background to squeeze the last possible moments of posturing on stage before the vote to raise the debt ceiling.

“At the end of the day,” says their Senate No. 2 Jon Kyl, “Republican leaders have made it clear that we will not be the ones to put the government into default. Now the House of Representatives has to make its decision about what it will do.”

Says the White House Budget Director, “There will be a fringe that believes that playing with Armageddon is a good idea, but I don’t think that’s where the majority will be.”

Just so, but the Tea Party troupe will be stretching its time in the spotlight to the last possible moment, even though most Americans clearly find Harry Potter and Sarah Palin more mesmerizing.

Update: Everybody in Washington is getting bad reviews for the Deficit Follies so far, with Republicans in Congress garnering the worst. A new poll shows 71 percent disapproval, with the President at only 48 percent. But Tea Party performers can’t or won’t read, and the show will go on.