Republicans, 2010: The "self-executing rule" will end life as we know it.
Republicans, 2005 and 2006: You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die. You’re all gonna die.I can’t recall a level of feigned indignation nearly as great as what we are seeing now from congressional Republicans and their acolytes at the Wall Street Journal, and on blogs, talk radio, and cable news.

It reached a ridiculous level of misinformation and disinformation over the use of reconciliation, and now threatens to top that level over the projected use of a self-executing rule by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In the last Congress that Republicans controlled, from 2005 to 2006, Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier used the self-executing rule more than 35 times, and was no stranger to the concept of “deem and pass.” That strategy, then decried by the House Democrats who are now using it, and now being called unconstitutional by WSJ editorialists, was defended by House Republicans in court (and upheld). Dreier used it for a $40 billion deficit reduction package so that his fellow GOPers could avoid an embarrassing vote on immigration.[Image]