There’s a rule of thumb which says that the more loudly something is claimed the more likely it’s not true. Fox News is an excellent example, making the loudest claims about how objective it is.

This applies just as appropriately to Republicans in the House, who carried out a big grandstanding stunt by reading the Constitution aloud, in essence implying that it was being ignored by Democrats, and that Republicans were committed to carrying out the letter of the law, all part of their larger movement to emphasize how they are all about rules and order. Following the rule of thumb, one can assume that the implied message is indeed not true.

It did not take long for evidence of this to materialize. Two Republican House members–including the chairman of the Rules Committee himself–participated in debate and votes in committee without being sworn in. Not only against the rules, but against the Constitution itself. Apparently they were too busy reading the Constitution to actually bother to follow the document’s rules. This put them in the embarrassing position of going to the Democrats–specifically, Nancy Pelosi–to beg for an agreement to let the whole incident be ignored by agreement so the GOP could ram through it’s pathetic attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act sooner, without having to take the time to follow the rules properly. (One does not have to guess what the Republican’s answer would be were their positions reversed.)

All this as Republicans get on another grandstanding high horse, reducing the budget deficit–as if they are all about reduction and Democrats are about ballooning it. This just weeks after they forced a 2-year extension on tax cuts for the rich which will cost us a hundred or two billion, with the full GOP intent of making those cuts permanent–even though a majority of Americans see raising taxes on wealthy people as the most popular way to reduce the deficit.

How else are Republicans going to “reduce” the deficit? By trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. The problem: the CBO says that doing so will actually inflate the deficit to the tune of $230 billion, and will only get more expensive as time goes on and the ten-year cost-saving estimate of the act begins to encompass more of the money-saving that will come at the far end of that estimate. Republicans predictably responded by calling the CBO estimate an “opinion” while couching the name of the ACA in the obligatory right-wing “job-killing” epithet.

Oh, and the Constitution reading which was ignored by Republicans themselves? That cost about $1.1 million. Not to mention all the time wasted in the health care repeal legislation that they know will just be killed in the Senate or vetoed by the president.

If the Republicans were actually interested in cutting costs, they should have immediately worked to fix a budget error, caused by the Republican obstructionism last year, that forces NASA to spend $475 million on a rocket they don’t need. But that would mean actually doing work that means something, rather than pulling PR stunts that play well to their base.

So, good job, Republicans, in showing the American public exactly how wasteful and stupid you all are.