Is there any other way to Look at this other than the GOP Completely Absolving Itself from Deficit Reduction Responsibilities?

That's just an initial reaction, mind you:

Under McConnell odd plan, the President could get a clean, no-strings-attached debt ceiling increase of $2.5 trillion, but he would have to endure three politically treacherous votes that would allow upwards of two-thirds of the Congress to be on record disapproving of his actions. In other words, the President would get his debt ceiling increase and Republicans would score political points, but there would be no guarantee of any spending cuts.

In terms of actual budget reduction, how can this scenario possibly be preferable to the so-called "grand bargain"? Obviously, this makes a lot of political sense, but almost cravenly so. McConnell's plan completely absolves the GOP from any budget-cutting until after the 2012 election -- and the deficit is something that we're told we must address now!

It's almost ingenious how much buck-passing is going on here.

MORE: Well, shit: even the folks over at RedState seem to agree with me on this one:

Mitch McConnell is right now talking about making a historic capitulation. So fearful of being blamed for a default, McConnell is proposing a compromise that lets Barack Obama raise the debt ceiling without making any spending cuts at all.

[...]

And now Mitch McConnell wants to make it even easier by allowing Congress to go through a dog and pony show of feigned cuts that never get cut while allowing escalation of our national debt. So much for accusing Barack Obama of smoke and mirrors.

2014 cannot come soon enough to destroy the political future of this weasel.

EVEN MORE: Here are some more takes. Notice that each one of them ignores the possibility that Obama might not come back and ask for the second or third debt ceiling increases (for whatever reason). If that did end up happening, it could only be interpreted as enormous victories for the President.