Are the Republican staging another hostage crisis?

When the debt ceiling deal was passed, it included caps for the 2012 budget that has to be passed by October 1st. Since the deal passed both the House and the Senate, it was assumed by everyone - including Republicans - that a continuing resolution would be a formality while the Super Committee on deficit reduction did its work.

But wait...not so fast.

In a surprising bit of hardball, House Republicans confirmed that they had been actively considering a plan to tamper with the August budget agreement by cutting even more from 2012 spending in order to put pressure on Senate Democrats to come to terms faster on domestic bills for the coming fiscal year.

Instead of the agreed-upon appropriations target of $1.043 trillion, a stopgap continuing resolution or CR this week would be calibrated at a lower $1.035 trillion level. The idea — promoted by Speaker John Boehner — was to effectively withhold about $8 billion for the first two months of the fiscal year, with the money becoming available only as Senate Democrats come to terms with the House on the dozen annual spending bills that cover government operations.

Failure to pass a continuing resolution by Oct. 1st would trigger - you guessed it - a government shut-down.

You have to wonder what the hell the Republican leadership is thinking, don't you? Their numbers are in the tank heading in to an election season, people are sick to death of their games, and want JOBS! Sure, the Republican base is nuts, but folks like Boehner and Cantor can read polls as well as anyone.

But, here's the catch. President Obama has done a marvelous job of changing the subject. Right now everyone is talking about the American Jobs Act. And the American people are getting engaged in shouting at Congress to pass.the.bill. What better way to change the conversation than threaten a government shut-down?

Its not certain yet whether or not they'll do this. But my gawd if they do I hope the public has had enough of this and sees what's going on here. It would be a blatant attempt to go back on their word and hurt the economy for the sole purpose of saving their asses from having to deal with President Obama's proposal and the fire-storm it has created.

As the President said in Detroit, we've got to send a loud message:

...the time for gridlock and games is over. The time for action is now. The time to create jobs is now.