I should not allow the (at this writing, likely last-minute) budget deal in Washington to prevent me from taking note of a classic piece of Wieselschaft from the pen of Everyone’s Buddy, Phil Scott. The occupant of Vermont’s “bucket of warm piss” recently took time out from his rigorous schedule of… whatever it is a Lieutenant Governor does… to craft an opinion piece that’s an amazing mixture of The Bold and The Bland.

The piece, published in Sunday’s Mitchell Family Organ (and paywalled, sorry), is entitled It’s Time To Lead.”

And that’s about where the boldness ends.

The subject, of course, is the budget standoff in Washington. Phil’s take: our leaders need to stop bickering and take action. Wow, what a stunner.

But wait, there’s more.

You’ll never guess how Mr. Inoffensive, the man seemingly born to be Lieutenant Governor, apportioned blame for the federal mess.  

Yep. It’s everybody’s fault.

Equally.

It seems as though, in the current environment, every side is trying to declare victory at any cost. With that as a goal no one wins. In fact, every one of us loses. The longer the House, the Senate and President Obama perpetuate this finger pointing and name calling, the harder it becomes to reach a resolution.

Sheesh.  

To be (briefly) fair to Vermont’s top Republican officeholder, it’d be awfully tough for him to call it straight, and assign the lion’s share of blame where it belongs: on the Republican dead-enders in Congress and the party leadership that enables them. But still, apportioning the blame like a parent slicing a cake for three jealous children is a bit much. At least it is, if Scott has any aspirations of someday holding a meaningful political office. Y’know, an office with duties and responsibilities and stuff. An office that requires… leadership.

Because blaming everyone in equal measure is either a blatant lie, a revelation of his true loyalties, or really really stupid.

Taking the options in reverse order: If he honestly believes that all parties are equally to blame, then he’s too dumb to be Governor. Might be too dumb to occupy the warm bucket.

And if he’s doing some ill-considered partisan spear-carrying, then by God, he’s a lot more of a Republican than he wants us to believe. Because what he’s doing, in his budget-standoff comments and his cautionary bleats about Vermont Health Connect, is giving the smiley-face version of Republican dogma: the Democrats are wrong, we’re right, and health care reform is a job-killing disaster.

But I suspect the truth is this: he knows the Congressional Republicans are screwing the pooch and playing chicken with the Full Faith And Credit, but he knows that if he says so, he can bid a fond farewell to any future role in the GOP.

Now, I believe that Phil Scott is the last best hope for the VTGOP, and I think Vermont is best served by having multiple relevant parties. So I can sympathize with his desire to maintain good intraparty relations while keeping up the fight for the soul of the VTGOP. But his essay is simultaneously a call for leadership, and a complete failure to exercise leadership himself. Not a good sign for a potential leader.

On the other hand, it’s just the ticket for the Lite-Guv’ship.