"The illness is spending..."

John Boehner, as reported by Robert Costa, hitting exactly the right notes again:

Washington has an illness. The illness is spending. The debt is a symptom of that illness. The American people want it cured. President Obama and congressional Democrats have been on a job-destroying spending spree that has left us with nothing but historic unemployment and the most debt in U.S. history. If they want us to help pay their bills, they are going to have to start cutting up their credit cards. "Cutting up the credit cards" means cutting spending – and implementing spending reforms to ensure we keep on cutting. We know the American people will settle for nothing less.

Of course, the right words are great, and important, but if they aren't ultimately followed by the right actions, they may end up doing more harm than good. If the Republicans screw up now and let the Democrats off the hook to firm up the disastrous policy decisions of the past four years, well, there's no situation so bad that it can't be made worse...