All of the Sunday morning shows discussed the (totally nonexistent) CBO report and, naturally, Republican panelists like Monica Crowley on McLaughlin were the loudest critics of the (totally fictitious) results of the (totally made-up) report.
The sheer number of establishment journalists and Republican Ruprects crapping their cages and repeating this story as the truth shouldn't come as any surprise. How many very serious issues have these factions totally botched in tandem? More than we can count so far.
And the CBO report flimflam is exactly why the Republicans should have to forfeit their input on the recovery bill -- arguably the most important piece of economic legislation since the New Deal.
Not only are the Republicans responsible for most if not all of this crisis but now they're lying to the world about a report that literally doesn't exist. Yet they're being treated by the establishment press as if their economic views are functional, like they somehow earned political capital and credibility on the economy. Another famous lie, "the fundamentals of the economy are strong," wasn't just a McCain gaffe, it was a widely repeated Republican talking point. The NRCC website is still saying it!
Hell, despite all of this, the television people are fluffing the Republicans as if they control the congressional agenda -- as if they control Congress, when the reality is that the only thing keeping the GOP from being entirely steamrolled is the magnanimity of the president. Magnanimity that the Republicans will soon discover isn't nearly as plentiful and renewable as they might think, especially now that they've pissed away what little capital they had on a totally false claim about the recovery bill. If previous instances of "enough!" and "I won" are any indication, this president knows how to say "no."