All in a Day: Spending Freeze Declared. $1.3 Trillion Deficit Announced. Deficit Commission Fails.

What's black and white and red all over? Today's news about the deficit!*

The same day Washington grappled with a spending freeze to help fight the deficit -- which the CBO today projected to hit $1.3 trillion -- the Senate voted against the (patently ridiculous) bipartisan deficit commission this morning. The commission wouldn't have worked anyway, but the roll call surprises me: Thirty-six Democrats, and only 16 Republicans voted for the amendment (yes, that's a majority but the special floor rules required a super-majority).

Wait, why only 16 Republicans?

I wonder if the GOP would have voted for the commission if Obama hadn't publicly supported it last week (after demurring for a month). I do love to scold plastic-feathered deficit hawks, but I'm not going to castigate the no-votes for lack of seriousness. There's no story here except that some moderate senators lost a fake debate about how to have a separate fake debate about cutting the deficit.

*Sorry.