House Republicans have been ranting and raving all week about the President’s position on military intervention. They’ve made public appearances on every television network and right wing radio show in America, while at the same time racking up newspaper and internet headlines stressing their concerns about American involvement.

On August 28th, John Boehner sent a letter to the president demanding answers to a lengthy list of questions, in writing, from his remote location in Ohio. Boehner urged President Obama to “make his case to Congress.” Among the long list of urgent questions that were included in the letter were:

What standard did the Administration use to determine that this scope of chemical weapons use warrants potential military action?

“Does the Administration consider such a response to be precedent-setting, should further humanitarian atrocities occur? What result is the Administration seeking from its response? What is the intended effect of the potential military strikes? If potential strikes do not have the intended effect, will further strikes be conducted?”

And there many others as well.

On August 31st the President laid out his case before the American public and then announced his decision to seek the support of Congress, prior to taking military action against Syria.

Shortly after the President’s speech, John Boehner, speaking on behalf of Republican members of the House, issued a new statement:

“WASHINGTON, DC – House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH), Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) today issued the following joint statement. “Under the Constitution, the responsibility to declare war lies with Congress. We are glad the president is seeking authorization for any military action in Syria in response to serious, substantive questions being raised. In consultation with the president, we expect the House to consider a measure the week of September 9th. This provides the president time to make his case to Congress and the American people.”

What happened to the urgency?

Republicans went from, “We demand to know right now!” to “We look forward to hearing about that in a couple of weeks when we get back from vacation.”

For those who were fooled into believing the GOP and tea party Congress really could be sincere about this one issue, there’s your sign you were wrong.