I’m trying to remember the last time Democrats in Congress (besides Anthony Weiner) ever publicly bad-mouthed the Republicans and their loony economic beliefs. I mean, there was “voodoo economics,” but that was Republican George H.W. Bush when he was running against Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Time after time I’ve watched as the Republicans get much of what they want from the Democrats, despite being in the minority. It is really frustrating, and apparently it’s happening again. As Steve Benen says,

Criticisms of the GOP plan have been all over the map, made more complicated by the fact that Democrats themselves have been far too quick to buy into the dubious notion that Americans actually want a focus on the deficit instead of the economy.

The Republicans are famous for having one set of talking points and sticking to them across all members of the party, while the Dems seem to be free-lancers. Thus the Republicans, it now appears, are about to get a whole lot more in cuts to the current year’s budget than the Democrats think is good.

Worse, politically, unless you stand up on your hind legs and shriek bloody murder before this ends up in a government shutdown, you risk the public blaming both you and the Republicans equally. Where are all the smart Democratic political advisers?