The Republicans play the same lying game, lying incessantly about non-existent "defense cuts." (In Washingtonese, if one proposes a $100 billion spending increase, and actual spending increases by "only" $90 billion, they call it a $10 billion budget cut).

Then there's the Washington Monument Syndrome game that has been mastered primarily by state and local governments. The game is this: Whenever a politician is "threatened" with a minor slowdown in spending, the first thing to do is to eliminate police, firefighters, ambulance services, school buses, etc. -- everything that inflicts the maximum discomfort on the victims of the government monopoly (a.k.a., taxpayers). The booboisie then wake up from their American Idol stupor for a moment to raise a fuss, and the proposals to slow down spending growth disappear.