Mike Pence- Congressman from Indiana is on MSNBC right now discussing the Republican budget proposal. I haven’t looked at their budget proposal yet, but this struck me as shocking. Nora O’donnell asked Mr. Pence how much the budget proposal would decrease the national deficit and Mr. Pence had no answer. Now, here’s why this is so problematic. The GOP talking point against the Obama budget was that it would ultimately increase the deficit, or at least fail to decrease the deficit by 2012. They’ve proposed a new plan, that upon first inspection does nothing to address their initial argument against the Obama budget (the deficit). What I surmise from this is that ultimately this is a gimmick- they’re not interested in substantiating their claim (Obama will raise the deficit) and providing an alternative (a plan that is more efficient or requires less government spending but somehow manages to remain stimulative) but rather, they just want to propose something that can then use to justify their disapproval of the Obama plan. What we’re watching is an entirely ideological battle- Mr. Pence responded to Nora’s request for more insight into how the GOP plan would decrease the budget by snapping “there are lots of numbers in our plan”. That’s not a sufficient response- and frankly, we’re at a point where we need to insist upon a more serious debate as opposed to something that’s entirely founded on political calculations and assumptions.