So this is how the Republican Party is going to proceed until they finally repeal President Obama from the White House:

The Obama administration's plan for U.N. climate change talks encountered swift opposition after its release Tuesday, with Republican leaders warning other countries to "proceed with caution" in negotiations with Washington because any deal could be later undone.

Tuesday's announcement by the White House that it had submitted a plan to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to reduce carbon emissions, per an agreement made in November between President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, is the sort of thing that shouldn't be controversial because reducing greenhouse gases benefits everyone -- even Republicans!

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But since none of them is A Scientist, they're quite sure global warming is a hoax because it still snows in winter, which is why the newly passed House Republican budget reduces federal spending on climate change research. So any attempt to address "climate change" is obviously unnecessary. And it's not as if the president of the United States has the authority to make deals anyway. Who does he think he is -- the president of the United States?

"Considering that two-thirds of the U.S. federal government hasn't even signed off on the Clean Power Plan and 13 states have already pledged to fight it, our international partners should proceed with caution before entering into a binding, unattainable deal,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said.

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Anyone starting to notice a trend here? In March, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wrote a letter to the National Governors Association instructing them to ignore new regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency to reduce pollution from coal-fired power plants because McConnell doesn't think those new regulations are legal anyway. (It's mere coincidence that McConnell's state of Kentucky is the third largest coal-producing state in the nation. Really.)

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This came on the heels of the Senate Republicans' unfreakingbelievable letter to Iran's leadership -- which was just a "cheeky" gag, guys, relax! -- clarifying that there is simply no point in negotiating with the current administration over Iran's nuclear power program because he's not going to be president forever (it's in the Constitution!). Once they get a real president in the White House, like maybe Donald Trump, they're going to cancel any "agreements" the current "president" made during his two-term tenure anyway. Or just bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb Iran. Whatever.

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And then there is the common claim from GOP presidential contenders like Ted Cruz, reprised from the 2012 election (which, in case you'd forgotten, Republicans did not win), that as soon as they take office, they're going to repeal Obama's Affordable Care Act because he never had the authority to sign a bill passed by Congress to reform health care anyway. Also Common Core, which is not actually a law, as Ivy League law school graduate Cruz ought to know, but he's going to repeal every single word of it anyway, take THAT, Obama.

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So while it's despicable -- one might even say disrespectful to the office of the presidency and just a tiny bit traitorous -- it seems Republicans are in agreement that since they can't beat the president in an election, and they can't find a way to impeach him, and the stubborn son of a bitch won't just up and resign and go back home to Kenya, they're going to run out his presidential clock by constantly declaring he has no authority to do anything anyway. (Except of course when they demand he Do Something, like declare a holy war on Islam, and then he's just a mom jeans-wearing pussy for failing to act.)

Remember the days when the president could strut around in military cosplay and declare himself The Decider and the Commander Guy? Republicans don't, but it's sure to come back to them if they ever win the White House again.

[Reuters]