decried as, well, stupid. the hill writes senate majority leader harry reid and minority leader mitch mcconnell recognize their bills are dead on arrival, but are forging ahead in an effort to secure public support in a messaging war over sequestration. in other words, forget the senate. meanwhile, republicans are blasting the white house for campaigning on the issue. to that end president obama will speak in the next hour at a shipyard in virginia, but he won't be alone on the trail. president obama is traveling with, wait for it, a republican congressman, scott rigell, and the message the president is taking to the people of virginia? >> i stand by those commitments to make the reforms for smart spending cuts. we also need republicans to adopt the same approach to tax reform that speaker boehner championed just two months ago. >> speaking of the message speaker boehner championed just two months ago, let us take a whirl in the not so way back