NYT hits GOP's 'shallow' fiscal proposal

House Republicans counter-offered the White House's proposal to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff yesterday with a plan that had $800 billion in new revenue and more than $1 trillion in spending reductions.

The New York Timesisn't having it. The editorial board wrote today:

On Monday, under pressure from the White House, Republicans finally released their opening position in the negotiations — a remarkably shallow one that demonstrated a lack of seriousness in negotiations, or farsightedness in policy. ...

Which programs would be cut? The letter doesn’t say, and Republicans don’t seem to care, as long as they blindly achieve their goal of cutting a big chunk out of government. The offer was a transparent attempt to appear responsive to Mr. Obama’s detailed proposal from last week, without doing any actual math or hard work.