The election cycle for 2014 is already in play. The President knows that, and most of this whole scripted budget game is for the 2014 Congress/Senate. Go look at the Presidential campaign speeches which continue on....even into this week. We are on a 365-day cycle now, campaign is a full-time profession/job, even for MSNBC.
Lucky for me, I no longer have any Satellite or Cable TV service. I got so disgusted in August at the lamestream media (and Fox News' slide to the LEFT) along with a $100 DirecTV bill that I just cancelled it and said the hell with it.
We have an OTA (Over-The-Air) antenna up on my ham radio tower now, and a Roku device to stream whatever TV/Movies we want to watch over the internet.
My TV viewing is typically college football on Saturdays, and pro-football on Sundays. Aside from that, I watch the nightly news between 10:12 and 10:16 just to see the next day's weather and then turn the idiot box off.
Amazingly, I have more time for my hobbies (ham radio) and time with my kids. Funny how that works once you get rid of the idiot box.