For years, I've objected to the media fiction designed to protect the image of even-handed reporting that Republicans and Democrats bear equivalent responsibility for the paralysis that grips Congress. So I was pleased recently when President Obama spoke out: "So when you hear a false equivalence that somehow, well, Congress is just broken, it's not true. What's broken right now is a Republican Party that repeatedly says no to proven, time-tested strategies to grow the economy, create more jobs, ensure fairness, open up opportunity to all people."

And then, as though to prove the truth of the president's accusation, Politico reported, May 27: "A faction of Republicans including Senator Lindsey Graham is agitating for party leaders to unveil a policy manifesto in the midterm elections, detailing for voters what the GOP would attempt with a Senate majority … But the idea has met a cool reception from other senators, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Better, they say, to keep the focus squarely on the shortcomings of President Barack Obama and his party than to make promises Republicans might not be able to keep."

You have to go pretty low to reach the equivalent of Republican cynicism.