principles. is that your experience here as well, that democrats are sort of buying into this ridiculous line? >> absolutely. and there's a real problem here. the deficit conversation is a tough conversation, because you can never tell if people are actually talking about the deficit. the deficit conversation works really, really well for minority parties. because two things. one, during a recession, you need to have a deficit. it's how the government increases economic activity. that's why it's so important. that's what stimulus funding is. adding money to the economy. you tax it, cut it from spending, you're bailing water from one part of the boat into another part of the boat. and number two, when we get into these issues, the deficit is a great way for the minority party to try to stop spending, stop accomplishments, stop legislation. they argued it on health care, which actually reduced the deficit. they argued it on stimulus, which has to increase the deficit. so it gets very, very difficult to say whether people are actually trying to recommend the tough policies that would reduce the federal debt, or whether they're just trying to get short-term political gain. and what is so politically