Via MaddowBlog: FL Senator Marco Rubio told a huge whopper on Twitter:
Rubio is marginally more intelligent than the average tea party loon, which is why, although he was happy to ride their Cap’n Crunch coattails to the US Senate, he is careful to keep them at arm’s length. That may come in handy for him.
Rubio’s party doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the deficit the tea party idiots are howling about; Rubio’s party wants to continue looting the US Treasury on behalf of Mitt Romney’s class. To do so, Rubio’s party needs to destroy Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and any other social program that implies by its existence that corporations and the plutocrats who run them have an obligation to the country.
Rubio doesn’t have a problem with his party’s objectives, but he does have an optics issue, in that he represents a state with a significant number of senior citizens who will be cheesed off if Rubio’s party — led by the tea party nuts — continues to champion cuts in social programs to ensure that Mitt Romney pays less than 14% a year in taxes on his investment income.
There’s no rational case Rubio can make to his constituents on why they should favor screwing themselves to shovel largess to multimillionaire dancing horse hobbyists. So Rubio will just try to bluff his way through this conundrum with big fat lies and hope it blows over before he’s up for reelection.
Will people be dumb enough to fall for that? Could be! This is Florida, after all. But there’s some evidence to suggest that there’s a limit to the stupid.
[X-posted at Rumproast]
feebog
There is a simple way to respond to this “chained CPI” crap; Dems simply say fine, we will go for a chained CPI if you will go for removing the cap on contributions. Everyone pays SSI tax on all their income. That is a reasonable approach, and should take care of funding for the next 80 years or so.
Maude
I love the post title.
Happy New year.
burnspbesq
The Republican long game: bluff Obama into cutting the social safety net, and attack the Democrats in 2014 for breaking faith with the middle class. If there were someone on the Republican side empowered to say “yes,” it might work. Fortunately, there isn’t.
Comrade Jake
You have to hand it to the GOP, it’s a cute game they run. Propose an unpopular entitlement cut in exchange for something Obama wants. Get Obama to agree in principle. Then pretend the cut was Obama’s idea, and run against him on it.
PsiFighter37
And this is why no Democrat should ever, EVER agree to any entitlement cuts. Make those assholes on the other side tie an anchor to their own ankles. No need to give their prevaricating any basis in reality.
lamh35
IT, but I read the article from Jonathan chait & what he’s said was that the WH thinks it’s the Senate Dems who would cut them at the knees to save themselves & make a deal that undercuts the WH. So the deal people are “sourcing” today seems to be one that will get support of ConservaDems. certain groups always complain that the admin doesn’t have dem party back but rarely admit that on occasion the dems undercut the Prez. So what can the WH do that causes least damage to regular folk & still satisfy the usual suspects.
burnspbesq
Forget where I saw it (might have been the Ezra Klein wonkbook email), but a key to understanding the House Republicans’ intransigence is that only 15 House Republicans represent districts that Obama carried last month. They don’t see any downside to behaving outrageously, and they are more than likely right in that assessment.
Face
Dems will find a way to renegotiate with themselves and give the GOP what they want. Obama will paint this as a great bipartisan deal. House Dems will be expected to vote for it. Bloggers will howl in disgust.
SS, DD.
NCSteve
OT, but now the ad servers are serving up ads for “Concealed Carry” magazine.
What do we have to do to get the ads with the chick with the cucumber back? They were far less obscene and offensive.
redshirt
I’m sure our stalwart media will get to the bottom of Marco’s lies.
dr. bloor
Did Rubio tweet that from Iowa, or has he moved on to New Hampshire? Everything he says over the next few years is going to be insufferable.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Face: And then, 3 months later, Republicans will find out they didn’t really get anything.
PsiFighter37
@Face: That shit sandwich known as the Budget Control Act was bad enough. My opinion – go over the fucking cliff and make Norquist and the GOP bitch and whine and grovel for lower rates. It’s not necessarily the adult thing to do, but I am so tired of dealing with Republicans who are bad-faith actors.
FlipYrWhig
@lamh35: yes, and this is precisely what happens with EVERY ONE of these negotiations, after which Big Prog-Blog blames Obama for doing everything wrong. Conservative Democrats really do want certain things, and use the leverage they have to get them.
MattF
Note, for the record, that about-to-be-ex-Senator DeMint is gone, baby, gone:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/us/politics/debt-reckoning.html?hp#sha=49bf2eb9b
So, no, it’s not about policy, or about the deficit, or about economics. Except for the economics of any given winger’s personal bank account.
shortstop
Florida’s seniors may not be as cheesed off as they should be. They went for Romney 58-41.
Davis X. Machina
@FlipYrWhig:
This is the inevitable consequence of a coalition government, in this case cobbling together a bi-partisan Senate working majority of Democrats who are Democrats (about 35) and Democrats who are Republicans (about 20).
Xenos
@PsiFighter37:
I would agree with you most of the time on this, but not all of the time.
As an example, the Clinton-era welfare reform law. The reforms were much, much less cruel than if they had been passed and administered under GOP president. Clinton defanged the issue and did something pretty positive with it. 11-dimensional chess? Maybe, and certainly not a jive act like the whole school uniform issue he started promoting.
hildebrand
@FlipYrWhig:
…and cue HuffPo screaming about the White House caving.
These are the days when it is very understandable why Obama doesn’t always look smilingly on the blogosphere.
Ted & Hellen
So what’s the lie the lying liar supposedly lied about in this tweet?
General Stuck
What happened was that Rubio and some other wingnuts, seized on a blurp Obama made in his interview with Gregory. That he could go along with a CPI change, IF part of a bigger deal, or grand bargain. But absolutely not in the context of simply dealing with the Bush tax cuts.
So nothing will be done regarding SS, unless there are any number of fresh taxes as well, beginning with lifting the FICA cap. And there is exactly zero chance of that happening, now, or in the future. Until in 20 years or so SS , could be an emergency situation to Keep SS solvent. Though that day would arrive sooner with medicare.
Rubio has figured out, like other wingnuts and the msm, a few choice words of nonsense will cause liberal progressives to become hysterical, and give Obama the what for’s. But Obama, like other dems past, turns that on its head and uses the shrieking left as a foil to make himself look reasonable, by not giving in to those crazies on his side.
Cassidy
If only we had someone here who could tell us a what a real progressive,…no a pure progressive, would do. If only. I bet they could tell us what that real, pure progressive would sell those principles for. I’m thinking, just off the top of my head, about $450.
And maybe they have some interesting insights into how raping a child could be consensual sex.I wonder if that person exists.FlipYrWhig
@Davis X. Machina: Professional and amateur pundits alike wonder whatever became of the reasonable Republican poliiticians. They’re Democrats now.
Ted & Hellen
My stalker is so cute.
I feed him my leavings and he likes it.
Halcyan
@NCSteve: the ads are served based on your searches. Big Brother from Madison Avenue :D Or Palo Alto and Google :D
AliceBlue
“not that he needed them.” Beautiful. I think that was my favorite part of the election (after Obama winning, of course).
FlipYrWhig
@General Stuck: or, as I have been saying, and a variant was said by feebog above, if you do chained CPI AND AT THE SAME TIME institute a minimum benefit that puts a firmer footing under the poorest SS recipients, and/or AT THE SAME TIME raise or eliminate the cap, these may in fact be positive changes to SS for the great majority of beneficiaries — that is, IF YOU DO IT RIGHT. Or at least it would be debatable by honest well-meaning people.
Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)
Obama is in the cat-bird seat. It’s his game to lose, so we’ll see.
jp7505a
Ezra Klein has a piece as to why the GOP thinks it’s winning the debate and that they just have to hold out a bit longer and Obama will give away the store. The Dems think otherwise.
Either way, the country is getting older and the population continues to grow. The infrastructure continues to age and essential systems, like the weather satellites will fail in just a few years. A growing population needs new schools, roads, fire stations, etc. And both sides are talking about spending less money in 2021 then we are spending today. The only difference is the size of the cuts. You cannot run a first world 21st century country using 18th century economic theories.
The very serious people continue to tell us that the richest country in the world is down to its last dime. Something is wrong with this picture. If Vietnam can build a high-speed rail link between Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City and we could build the TVA and Hoover dam in the midst of the great depression then our problem isn’t lack of money.
Raven
Steve Israel just said you can’t negotiate with “skidmarks”!
Raven
Steve Israel just said you can’t negotiate with “skidmarks”!
Davis X. Machina
@FlipYrWhig: There’s little to choose between the rightmost 15 Democratic senators of today, and the Javitses, Cases, Brookes, Percies, Hatfields, etc, of my youth, that’s for sure.
Of course, there was a whole interstate full of traffic in the other direction — the Eastmans and Sparkmans and such. Their ilk all in the the GOP now.
Raven
Steve Israel just said you can’t negotiate with “skidmarks”!
chopper
@Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin):
i thought he already lost it because he’s totes incompetent and history’s biggest monster.
Raven
Steve Israel just said you can’t negotiate with “skidmarks”!
WereBear
I have dreamed of a limit to the stupid. But I’m afraid that limit is 27%.
General Stuck
@FlipYrWhig:
Within the reality based community, we call such things ‘progressive change’. The real deal.
Yutsano
@shortstop: Racism is a helluva drug.
RaflW
@lamh35:
Totally infuriated by today’s reported mini-deal. Utter disaster in the making. I rarely go to the trouble to send five faxes, but today was one of those days: Reid, Obama, Biden, Franken, Klobuchar.
Buck up, Democrats! was my message. Wait till Jan 3rd at least.
Used the BJ free fax method. Glad I bookmarked it.
hildebrand
@Ted & Hellen: Did you not ask a question? I always thought that the expected way to follow up on said question was to provide an answer.
Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)
@chopper:
That would be, yet another silly twat, err TWEET. moderation?
Valdivia
I am a certified Obot and I will wait until the deal is signed but if the reports of what’s in it (up to 550K as the cut off for making the taxes permanent? and setting up the debt limit as a perpetual hostage taking opportunity for the Reps) I will be as outrage as any firebragger
SFAW
@Raven:
Was he talking about tires, or u-trou?
Chyron HR
@Ted & Hellen:
Attention, Obots! Tim/Ted has spoken:
Obama = Repubican
Balloon Juice = Center-right blog
Marco Rubio = True Progressive Greenwaldian Firepup
So let it be written, so let it be done.
Suffern ACE
@jp7505a: somehow we got stuck with the elite with an ideological worldview appropriate for running an economy based on slash and burn agriculture or nomadic goat herding.
General Stuck
@lamh35:
There are even some true liberals in the senate who can’t help themselves but reflexively aid the wealthy, mostly in wealthy NE. But they will not come out four flush for any such deal, against their own president who just won reelection and has a 57 percent approval. Not at his late stage with the bright lights on and the world watching.
Ted & Hellen
@hildebrand:
If I knew the answer I wouldn’t have asked the question.
?
shortstop
@Yutsano: Racism primarily, and also Foxy tribalism. They convince themselves that their guys aren’t going to do what they’re going to do. As we’re always saying here, they change the facts to fit the narrative, not the other way around.
Villago Delenda Est
@redshirt:
I’m sure I can interest you in some prime beachfront property in North Dakota, as well!
One of the main problems we have right now is that a substantial number of Rethug representatives got their seats via gerrymandering, which allows those who have gone beyond batshit or apeshit insane into grand mal howler monkey insane, the sort of thing you see at the end of Der Untergang.
Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)
@Chyron HR:
Marco Rubio = True Progressive Greenwaldian Firepup
Two out of three ain’t bad. But I’m pretty good at point-shaving and I predict a split between the best and worst-case scenarios.
Maude
@Valdivia:
Obama has never “sold us out”. Why would he do that now?
The income that gets taxed more isn’t something that bothers me.
Obama is trying to get rid of the debt ceiling game.
Lojasmo
@Ted & Hellen:
Same shit you’ve been slinging here…that Obama “supports” cuts to SS.
Rome Again
@dr. bloor:
Only if you believe that Rubio can get elected. Many in Rubio’s party believe he’s not a Natural Born Citizen, and if they gave up that point, it would have to reflect on Obama’s eligibility too. I think they don’t want Rubio THAT much!
Valdivia
@Maude:
I have never been one who thinks that. But: by accepting the new threshold, after he ran on a hard line of 250K, saying it was his hard line in the sand, he is being seen by the Reps as easy to break and push around (and while I never thought that either I am beginning to wonder why with a winning hand he just give it up) broken on the tax thing and easy to get rolled on the debt ceiling. There is NO debt ceiling agreement at all right now, that means they are giving up on the taxes and getting NOTHING in return. It makes no sense whatsoever.
Ted & Hellen
@Lojasmo:
Hmmm…but he does, of course.
Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)
@Lojasmo:
Same shit you’ve been slinging here…that Obama “supports” cuts to SS.
I see where you’re going, but the acronym would be SSSSS.
Or were you going for onomatapoeia?
General Stuck
@Valdivia:
I’m pretty sure that any concessions offered by Obama was in context of a larger debt reduction bill, or grand bargain, if you will. And at this late hour, all they are trying to do is deal with the expiring Bush tax cuts. I do believe.
Davis X. Machina
@General Stuck:
And the expiring emergency unemployment extension. 2 million people lose UI at midnight.
TPM.
General Stuck
@Davis X. Machina:
Yup, very important, that too.
Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)
Grand Bargain sounds cravenly close to Grand Bargle, and we love those industrial-size chunks.
Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor
@shortstop:
To be fair, it was made clear to them that Romney wouldn’t have taken anything away from them had he won.
shortstop
@Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor: I know you’re kidding, but I’ll still note: he would have — and that was made clear, too. They just chose to believe the GOP spin instead of the facts.
pat
The republicans are acting like 2-year olds having a tantrum in the grocery store. The problem is if they get some candy to quit, they will think it is a winning strategy.
Unfortunately, I don’t see any way of getting a deal without some concessions, and going over the cliff means hundreds of thousands of, for example, defense workers going on unpaid furlough and many losing unemployment benefits.
In other words, the repubs have a gun to the head of the US economy, and are just waiting for the word to pull the trigger. And then they can blame Obama for the worsening recession and get even more crazies elected in 2014. It is a winning strategy for them. I think they are basically psycopaths….
Maude
@Valdivia:
I will see what Obama says.
The hard line, to me, is the Bush Tax Cuts. I think that’s what this is about.
The Reps want to keep the rich donors happy. As well as some Dems.
Schlemizel
@hildebrand:
Not when dealing with Douche & Bag. They ask a question in order to provoke a response. Not to engender debate or to enlighten or to add to the discussion or any other useful thing you could think of that a normal person would do.
No, Douche & Bag only seek to be an irritant and responding to them is their only delight.
Notice how the comments between yours and mine have validated D&Bs miserable existence while derailing any intelligent discussion with a “thats what you are but what am I” schoolyard bullshit pissing contest.
Maude
@General Stuck:
The unemployment benefits ran out Saturday.
General Stuck
@Davis X. Machina:
If that is the deal, then Boehner better have more than the minimum wingnuts to vote yea for it along with the necessary dems. Because such a deal is not going to get every dem vote, or anywhere near it, I suspect. The bitterness of the creation of the Bush tax cuts in the first place, runs deep with the more liberal House dem caucus.
Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor
@shortstop:
Hook, line and sinker; with a ‘please’ and a ‘thank you’ on either end of it.
‘Wired for Republicans’, to borrow Josh Marshall’s term.
Valdivia
The deal is to make those tax cuts permanent at a super high level in exchange for temporary. Bad bad deal. Plus NO debt ceiling leverage. Sorry I’m usually not an poutrage person but I’m totally aghast about this.
ruemara
@Valdivia: Oh shut it. Seriously. This is not “Obama’s Grand Bargain” and he did not blow his winning hand. This is Congressional Democrats choice, the compromise was a move from $250k to $400k and is not something Obama personally bargained away for nothing. For fuck’s sake, you’re acting like this is the hill to die on. Yet not one person is saying this little tidbit, the 2 million people who’s sole source of income, unemployment, deserve their extension even if the tax rate is not at $250k. You’re upset about a compromise that saves millions of actual people. That’s not a bad thing. And if you don’t like the terms, notice that in all these talks, there are reps from both caucuses. This is coming from Congress.
Cassidy
@Schlemizel: I went ahead with the pie filter. I’m still trying to figure out how to change the phrases so that it alternates between “I blow goats”, “I fleeced Cole for cash”, and “I’ve got no ethical problem with raping 12 year olds.”
But, in the end I’m tired of it. The only thing I want to actually hear from it is “goodbye cruel world” followed by a video upload of it setting itself on fire.
General Stuck
@General Stuck:
Will not wash with House dems, at all. Sounds like over zealous tea leaf reading by the TPM go getters.
Ted & Hellen
@Schlemizel:
Maybe YOU should stop obsessing about me, and start ignoring me. You’re becoming unhinged.
Use the Pie filter. Clearly your mental health is at stake.
shortstop
@ruemara: It would be unbelievably cool, and a little New Year’s miracle, if people could begin to notice the obvious-as-hell difference between perennial, bad-faith firebaggers who jump at any chance to assign bad motives to the president, and well-established Obama supporters who only very occasionally raise concerns about his actions. Your comment is an appropriate response to the former. You’ve been around here long enough to know Valdivia is definitively the latter.
West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)
I remain astonished even at the age of 50 how some smug, ill-informed knucklehead (Rubio, Coulter, Limbaugh, Cantor, et al) can just spin pure bullshit and grin at the camera and be taken seriously. I’ll give it a go: Reagan ate human babies for breakfast!
Hmmm… not the feeling of liberation and financial reward I was expecting. Maybe I did it wrong.
Maude
@ruemara:
Obama in his press conference had said two million people on unemployment. I do think that his main goal is to get those benefits on track.
There’s a new crazy Congress tomorrow.
Schlemizel
@Cassidy:
I think the only thing to do is pie & ignore. The only time I am aware of douche & bag is when someone responds to them. I think we would have to deal with a several day long tantrum if everyone stopped responding. Escalating stupidity to try and get the response it wants. But if we left them to sit in their own urine soaked posts without taking the bait they would give up
Paul
@Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor:
I guess Florida’s seniors didn’t know that they themselves are part of the freeloading 47% that Romney talked about, depending on government medicare and SS.
Culture of Truth
While I fully support raising the tax rates on the upper incomes, they could be anything from 0% to 95% as long as a progressive / liberal agenda is pursued. The rates, to me, are a means to an end, not the goal. I would also add a fixation on the rates sort feeds the deficit talk, which, as we have observed, really isn’t a big problem.
Ted & Hellen
@ruemara:
Wow. Did you cut and paste this from the last Obama budget crisis?
I particularly like the “oh shut it.” The typical Botulist response when once again up against the wall.
Obama is caving…again. There is no republican outrage this man won’t enable with his milquetoast negotiating tactics. Why, one might wonder who is on whose side?
West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)
@Schlemizel: Is there a name for his/her mental disorder? Is it a dash of narcissism with a dose of anti-social behavior? You are later in this thread accused of being unhinged. I suspect that like me you may simply be bored and dismayed.
shortstop
@West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.): Dry drunk and about ten other palpable issues.
Valdivia
@shortstop:
Thank you I have been waiting and seeing about the deal. But everything I have heard does not augur well. Making the Bush tax cuts permanent up to 500K is silly if they’re not getting the debt ceiling off the table.
Cassidy
@Schlemizel: I also forgot another phrase:
“I threaten to sue people for calling me names on the internet and hurting my fee fees. I’m terrified that potential and current customers will hear and see some of the vile shit I’ve written, including my attempts to explain that child rape could have been consensual sex.”
I’m not sure how to make that shorter and catchier, though.
ETA: and of course it’s aware of all internet traditions.
General Stuck
@West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.):
My official diagnoses is borderline personality disorder with self esteem somewhere near whale shit on the bottom of the sea. Not to mention mixtures or permanent grief and rage spurred by perpetual sense of loss. Timmy just hasn’t been the same since his doggie run off for someone better.
So by and large, T and H’s current malignant narcissist episodes could by summed up by “Lassie Come Home”, with a little ray of hope that “At Least John Cole Loves Me”
Culture of Truth
so now Obama has to get a permanent tax hike on upper incomes *and* the debt ceiling gone or he’s failed?
Ted & Hellen
@General Stuck:
Weird how Botulist dorks ignore the issue I raise, focus on ME, then complain and whine and bitch in multiple comments about how people complain and whine and bitch about me in multiple comments.
Pie me already, losers.
Comrade Jake
It seems to me that the unemployment bennies are a real issue.
I can imagine a universe in which, after going over the cliff, the Republicans in the House agree to tax cuts for everyone under $250k. After all, it would actually be a tax cut at that point.
But it’s difficult for me to imagine them agreeing to unemployment bennies. What would be their incentive?
Valdivia
Ezra is tweeting the details of the deal. This sets up a huge advantage for the R’s on the debt ceiling. You thought last time was ugly? Its going to be a disaster as everything will be on the table now: SS medicaid, medicare. If you care about the poor this deal is not a good thing. I really want to get it but I don’t–even with the UI extension, it just makes no sense to me.
If the republicans are gleeful I am skeptical about this being good in any sense of the word.
General Stuck
@Ted & Hellen:
If I pied one person, I would have to pie everyone. And I don’t whine about your presence, nor oppose it. But the
beatingstherapy will continue until behavior improves, in sessions of my own choosing, and always, ALWAYS, with your best interest at heart.Spare the rod, spoil the child
says the goodbook
Yutsano
@Valdivia: Did Ezra say how Johnnie Boy was going to get it past his Caucus of Crazy? Cause he’s refused to get any help from Nancy to get something done and now she’s stopped offering.
Mnemosyne
@Valdivia:
I dunno about Ezra. I remember him causing a panic a couple of weeks ago when he reported that part of the deal was going to be raising the Medicare eligibility age to 67 and that entire thing turned out to be a bust.
I’m not sure his sources are as reliable as he claims they are.
Valdivia
I will just add, and then I have to run, that this also sets up a narrative (see many articles already saying it)of Obama having zero credibility in holding firm on the debt ceiling after giving in on estate taxes, bush taxes, payroll tax, etc. Republicans are gleeful because they see no matter how hard the WH will stand at the outset they give in at the end. Biden–who I love and respect–crafted this deal with McConnell. It sets up a second term that will be exactly or worse than the last four years. We will get nothing done at all unless Obama does it via executive order. It’s just depressing as hell even if I am still a total Obot.
RaflW
Got moderated. Carry on.
RaflW
Fucking shit.
Ezra is saying Estate tax exemption is to be $10million.
Basically, a couple hundred estates per year will be subject to this tax. This is insane.
This is the move to permanently establish an American ruling class with unending wealth transfers to useless progeny.
I am beside myself with anger at this. This fucking country is well on its way to South American mid-20th century ruin.
Collapsing bridges won’t matter. The rich will helicopter to all their gate communities and Aspen ski weekends/TED talks.
Fuck. This. Senate. with a hot rusty pitchfork.
Culture of Truth
Its going to be a disaster
yeeaahh!
Ted & Hellen
@General Stuck:
But I rather enjoy the rod, sir, if I do say so myself.
Valdivia
@Mnemosyne:
@Yutsano:
his reporting is just adding details to what is already there. Expanding on what everyone is reporting. Obama talks at 1:30 so we shall see.
A bunch of prog Sens are already talking to Reid, hopefully to yank the deal to the left. And who know what will happen on the House side?
Still it just created a precedent of giving a lot up while everything they swore a month ago was sacrosanct: debt ceiling, 250K is gone. I am willing to be convinced this is a good deal but no one I respect is saying it is.
Culture of Truth
Still it just created a precedent of giving a lot up while everything they swore a month ago was sacrosanct: debt ceiling, 250K is gone.
I must have missed this swearing that the debt ceiling was sacrosanct
Ted & Hellen
So, so very predictable.
Obama is not on our side, folks.
He is on the side of the elites of every category.
Start pushing from the left instead of blowing him on the right, please.
Valdivia
@Culture of Truth:
Obama said it was. He said: never ever negotiating this again. Taking it off the table. Now its on the table again. They are counting that the next round–debt ceiling–they will get more revenue. It’s really stupid.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/31/why-the-white-house-thinks-its-winning-the-fiscal-cliff/
Mnemosyne
@Valdivia:
Since it was crafted by the Senate, I doubt it’s a good deal BUT I also greatly doubt it’s going to pass the House. Boehner is a weak Speaker who insists that everything pass with a majority of his caucus voting for it and I doubt that Nancy Pelosi is going to step up to save his ass.
Throw in the fact that the House hates having the Senate tell them what to do, and I doubt Boehner even brings it to a vote.
And, honestly, I don’t see why this failed negotiation changes everything when the other failed negotiations did not. You’re probably right that anything that Obama gets done will have to be done via EO, but that’s on the House, not on him.
General Stuck
Any deal that does pass this congress, (other than a straight up separation of the Bush tax cuts) during lame duck on keystone issues of ideology, would be akin to the Immaculate Conception, or, if a NFL fan, Immaculate Reception. Ezra is bordering on doing his credibility great harm with this repeated chicken little shit from dubious sources.
Comrade Jake
Really any sort of a “deal” was highly unlikely to please progressives any more than it would conservatives.
Paul
@Ted & Hellen:
Well, based on your postings I know you are not on our side. No matter what Obama does, you disagree with him. No matter what Congress does, you never say one word. I take it you are against closing Gitmo since Obama was for it and Congress people like Klobuchar and Bernia Sanders were against it.
Mnemosyne
@Valdivia:
I dunno, that article makes the deal sound pretty good:
I mean, yes, it’s $450K instead of $250K, but other concessions by Republicans seem to make up for that.
But, as I said, I doubt Boehner is going to be able to sell it to his caucus, and Pelosi’s not going to help him unless he gets down on bended knee, so I doubt the deal is going anywhere.
ETA: And if it does encompass a permanent fix to the AMT, that’s really huge. Burnsy and Martin will be doing a happy dance if that’s the case.
Culture of Truth
Obama said it was. He said: never ever negotiating this again.
Which is the opposite of making it part of this week’s budget neogtiation. He did not say it had to be off the table as part of the recent negotations. And it’s not on the table “again.” It always was. You act like Obama gave it away.
I agree it’s stupid that this has become an issue. I don’t agree it’s stupid that Obama has failed today to give something away to get rid of the issue.
Maude
@Mnemosyne:
And no one knows what the deal is because there isn’t a deal. The pundits are guessing.
Yutsano
@Comrade Jake: Until Boehner gets his caucus in line nothing is happening. The House has to originate the bill, and Johnnie Boy has already failed in corraling his buckaroos more than once during this whole mishegas.
Valdivia
@Mnemosyne:
I hope it fails. I do think the WH is delusional if they think after giving in on things now the Republicans will give them more revenue next year and that seems to be the basis of this negotiation. I want to be wrong!
General Stuck
The deal Ezra is describing is not ideal for liberal ideology on tax issues, but it does seem to be pretty good for current conditions of helping the economy. I still think the Estate Tax thing, reported as dems accepting a ten million dollar threshold, is bullshit. And as well as being good for the economy, keeping all the stim money tax breaks in place, like UE, earned income, college stuff, that is all real world help to core dem constituencies. a 400 thousand cuttoff for high taxes, still brings in 700 billion in revenues, as opposed to 800 billion. I am not going off the res for that minor loss.
Mnemosyne
@Valdivia:
As described by Ezra, the basis of the negotiation seems to be, “The Republicans won’t be able to get their shit together enough to make the cuts they say they want, so we may as well get what we can now and watch them flail around later.”
The administration has a not-so-secret trump card that no one ever seems to talk about with these negotiations: we are leaving Afghanistan at the end of 2014, and I haven’t seen anything to indicate that that plan has changed. That in and of itself will provide a huge savings because we will no longer be pouring money into that sinkhole. I wouldn’t be surprised if the administration is using that savings as part of their contingency plan for when the Republicans step on their own dicks again.
Patricia Kayden
@PsiFighter37: AMEN. Hope Dems don’t fall for any “compromise” involving cuts to entitlement programs. Foolish and unnecessary. And easily used against them in 2014/2016.
rikyrah
I love the title of this post.
and don’t forget Marco voted AGAINST Hurricane Sandy relief.
I do want this brought to his attention the next time he opens his muthafucking mouth WHEN the next hurricane hits Florida.
CaseyL
NYT reports Republicans are “outraged” by POTUS remarks this morning.
To which I say “Good!”
No details on whether they’re upset at the content or at the tone.
Maude
@CaseyL:
fee fees is hurt.
West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)
@rikyrah: Yes, the thread did move away from Senator Boyish-Face, didn’t it? FSM, the right is easily swayed by a handsome/pretty package (to wit, Sarah Palin, though she now has a lean and hungry look about her).
RinaX
@Mnemosyne:
I just read speculation over at a WP blog that the White House fears that after they go over the fiscal cliff, the House will simply pass a bill with the tax threshold even higher than 400K and without the other benefits, that some Senate Dems would be happy to vote for. I’ve trusted President Obama in this all along, but I certainly can’t say the same for the Senate Dems. Sadly I think a portion of them WOULD vote with Senate Republicans on such a bill.
Mnemosyne
@RinaX:
The LA Times has a story about the proposed deal (eemom linked to it in the thread above) and, frankly, I can’t figure out what people are freaking out about. Maybe there’s a poison pill that I can’t see?
JPL
That elder stateman, former presidential candidate who lost to the president, was on the floor of the Senate whining about the President’s speech. He sounded distressed maybe cuz David Gregory hasn’t asked him on his show recently.
JPL
@Mnemosyne: Thanks. That doesn’t sound like doom and gloom although I wish Biden would make them vote on the debt ceiling at the same time.
burnspbesq
@Mnemosyne:
I think that deal sucks, even though it’s good for me personally. Obama is giving away far too much to get hardly anything.
xian
@Valdivia: you think the 250k bottom line is more important than breaking the republican never-vote-for-tax-increases bottom line?
xian
@Ted & Hellen: what you never seem to realize (probably because you enjoy the frisson of conflict and victimization over constructive work) is that your political prudery would be respected just fine even on this obot. blog if you ever once suggested a proposed course of action to improve circumstances. instead you’d rather bawl about the poop in your drawers and how no one will change it for you.
RinaX
@xian:
If the Dems succeed in getting some of the other items that they are negotiating into this, like a permanent AMT fix, I don’t see this deal as bad at all.
xian
@Valdivia: this whole idea that things in DC are permanent is laughable.
Schlemizel
@xian:
please see:
@Schlemizel:
Douche & Bag won’t go away as long as they get the attention they so desperately need. You have identified the root problem that Douche & Bag are not interested in discussion. They throw a bomb and then wait for the predictable response which someone here ALWAYS obliges them with.
West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)
@xian: Amusingly put! I think all BJers have at some point in time pissed off someone here. We’ve probably all stated something in words we later regret or would like to edit. I don’t expect or want this blog to just be a circle jerk of praise for all things Dem. But you’re right, just pissing and moaning while offering little in terms of constructive solution does get tiring (especially when it’s done in a fashion that seems designed to simply annoy people).
I don’t disagree with everything I’ve seen “Ted & Helen” put forth; I do think Obama gives too much away in negotiations with the right. I’d like to see more action from his administration on the environment, education, and other issues (though I know he can’t address any of these issues by himself). Oh well, there’s my two-cents worth.
Cassidy
@Paul: Seems someone has a serious problem with African Americans.
Lojasmo
@RaflW:
Is Ezra Klein right anbout anything? Ever? If so, I have not witnessed it.
Lojasmo
@RaflW:
Is Ezra Klein right anbout anything? Ever? If so, I have not witnessed it.
Machine-Gun Preacher (formerly Ben Franklin)
@Cassidy:
I would have thought one of your New Year resolutions would be to stop torturing small animals.
Happy New Year, asshole.
Tyrone
LIE LIE LIE REPUBLICAN LIE TO WIN THE WHITE HOUSE AND THEIR BASE IS OK WITH IT
Let me start off by saying Sen. Marco Rubio is a proven LIAR! Clint Eastwood was a embarrassment to the country and the Republican Tea Party! He clearly showed his age! Clint FORGOT that it was the Republican President that started two wars. It was the Republican President that started the Iraq war for NOTHING…It was the Republican control house that voted for failed policy that brought the country to a recession. De-regulation allowed American businesses to scam and cheat the American people! Wall Street had a field day with scandal against the American people! That was the Republican disaster!!!!!
At the Republican Convention Republican after Republican kept asking ARE YOU BETTER OFF THEN FOUR YEARS AGO! Romney’s personal real estate includes six homes: one in La Jolla, two in the Boston area, a ski lodge in Utah and two lakeside residences in New Hampshire.During President Obama Presidency Mitt Romney went from a 6 million dollar home to a 12 million dollar home……So if he answer the question of ARE YOU BETTER OFF THEN FOUR YEARS AGO! Romney can say out loud ……HELL YEAH!!!!
Sen. Marco Rubio is a proven LIAR! Remember Rubio lied and told how his family escape Cuba. Which was a total LIE! This is the way Republican are campaigning LIE LIE LIE! Paul Ryan told several lies at the Republican Convention” ! Lies that most American knew were lie! Yet Romney and Ryan know that their base will believe the lies and never check if true! Just like most of the Republican base believe President Obama is Muslim! Even after Rev. Wright and the attack on his Christian church that Obama belong to over 20 years!
The Republican Party has a problem in this presidential election cycle – their candidate, Mitt Romney, is a Mormon private equity guy with Swiss bank accounts. His popularity poll numbers are lower than any other candidate in recent memory. So Republicans have to rely on tried and true campaign tactics that have worked so well for them ever since Ronald Reagan.
Basically, there are two primary initiatives:
1) Suppress the vote of African-Americans and other minorities and senior citizen with onerous new voter identification requirements and other restrictions. These are being implemented in the key “swing states” of Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio.
2) Tap into the latent racism and resentment of white working class voters who have been losing ground economically since 2000. This is happening through blatant lies about the Obama administration as well as through more subtle “whisper campaign” concerning Obama’s race, religion, birth status, etc.
AND LIE LIE LIE!!!!!!