Monday night, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) was pressed by MSNBC's Chris Matthews to identify what programs he would eliminate in order to address the deficit. All Ryan could come up with was repealing the remaining stimulus and TARP funds. By advocating for the elimination of the stimulus, Ryan was endorsing a tax increase on the middle class. However, at least Ryan was able to positively identify something that he would cut.

Today, Rep. John Shadegg (R-AZ) went on MSNBC and put on an even less impressive performance. Mike Barnacle begged Shadegg to identify just one specific program that he would axe, but Shadegg fell back on the conservative tactic of calling for an across the board cut on all programs