This week, former President  Bill Clinton  urged calm in the face of Washington's stand-off over the so-called fiscal cliff. "They are moving toward a deal," Clinton assured Americans, suggesting that the current posturing by both parties is "just a Kabuki dance."

Unfortunately, Republicans have called President Obama's $4 trillion debt reduction plan something else: a joke. While Senate Minority Leader  Mitch McConnell  boasted that he "burst into laughter," House Speaker  John Boehner  claimed he was "flabbergasted" at the President's "non-serious proposal."

As it turns out, that choice of language is more than a little ironic. After all, Boehner's counter-offer isn't merely devoid of specifics when it comes to his proposed spending cuts and revenue-raising loophole closing. Like Mitt Romney before him, Speaker  Boehner's math  doesn't--and cannot--work. More pathetic still, it is the GOP which is trying to dupe the American people by continuing to peddle its long-debunked myths about taxes and the debt.