Speaker Boehner and Congressman Ryan,
I have heard you many times say that we have a debt problem...that we have a spending problem...that we are burdening our children. As a conservative, I agree. So WHAT THE HELL were you doing agreeing with the President that we don't have an IMMEDIATE debt crisis?!?! And on national television?
If a car is heading at 90 MPH towards a cliff that's a quarter-mile away, that's an immediate crisis, even though the car hasn't actually gone over the cliff yet. YES, IT IS A CRISIS RIGHT NOW.
You were wrong, but not just wrong. In addition to being wrong, your statement was politically amateurish. You gave the President, the Democrats, and the media one more sound bite cudgel with which to beat conservatives over the head. "See...even the top Republicans in Washington agree with the President that the debt isn't an immediate crisis..."
How could you say this? Saying the debt crisis is "looming" was a terribly insufficient characterization. Do you really believe the stuff that the conservative base believes about the severity of the debt? I'm part of that base, and I'm not convinced that you really believe it.
And if you don't believe it, can you at least convey a consistent message so that people will THINK that you believe it?
