I can't believe there was not enough votes among House Republicans. Do they not know how the game is played. By not supporting plan B they have weakened their own side in the negotiations.
I can't believe there was not enough votes among House Republicans. Do they not know how the game is played. By not supporting plan B they have weakened their own side in the negotiations.
That's precisely the problem with all the Republicans (at least that the national level -- you'll find more reasonable ones at the local and state level, depending on where you live) these days. They don't understand at all how the game of American politics is played. They think it's a winner-take-all, fuck anyone who doesn't agree with us game, when in actuality it's a game of give and take between two sides with the goal of trying to find a happy medium.
"Conservative" cannot possibly be sanely applied to a group of people dead-set on removing social programs and worker protections that have been in place since 1930-ish. There's nothing conservative about that. It's pretty radical. They can call themselves Conservatives if they want to, but everybody else should be laughing at them and refusing to call them that. Fascists might be more appropriate.
What part of "Bush tax cuts are ending. Voting to have taxes higher than Bush levels but lower than Clinton levels is not raising taxes" do they not understand?
What part of "Bush tax cuts are ending. Voting to have taxes higher than Bush levels but lower than Clinton levels is not raising taxes" do they not understand?
What part of "Bush tax cuts are ending. Voting to have taxes higher than Bush levels but lower than Clinton levels is not raising taxes" do they not understand?
They don't want such a vote to be used against them in a primary, that's why I always believed that a bill would have to wait till January to get passed the House.
What part of "Bush tax cuts are ending. Voting to have taxes higher than Bush levels but lower than Clinton levels is not raising taxes" do they not understand?
They don't want such a vote to be used against them in a primary, that's why I always believed that a bill would have to wait till January to get passed the House.
Given prior performance and recent indications, Obama will shit himself before then for inscrutable reasons and hand them the bill they want on a platter.
Obama has already given too much ground in his latest offer. The Republicans don't seem to want to accept it, which is fortunate because going over the cliff and fixing up afterwards is the better option anyway.
Obama has already given too much ground in his latest offer. The Republicans don't seem to want to accept it, which is fortunate because going over the cliff and fixing up afterwards is the better option anyway.
Especially since the cliff isn't so much a cliff but a steep hill with plenty of handholds along the way to grab on to before you fall down too far. Of course, if they don't grab on to the handholds before it's too late, then it's an epic fail...
I can't believe there was not enough votes among House Republicans. Do they not know how the game is played. By not supporting plan B they have weakened their own side in the negotiations.
What part of "Bush tax cuts are ending. Voting to have taxes higher than Bush levels but lower than Clinton levels is not raising taxes" do they not understand?
Obama has already given too much ground in his latest offer. The Republicans don't seem to want to accept it, which is fortunate because going over the cliff and fixing up afterwards is the better option anyway.
Rope a fucking dope. Obama is master of it. It's almost like the D's knew the republicans wouldn't even take a sweet ass deal that Obama proposed. Thus when they rejected it they'd look like idiots giving the D's and Obama more power.
I hope you're right but wouldn't Obama and the Dems look equally stupid backing off from the 'bait' offer in favor of something less damaging to the middle class?
See in a way, now if a bargain can't be reached it will be because the house Republicans couldn't even pass a counter offer. The D's meet them more then half way and they still refused to come close. Thus when the next year occurs tax rates will rise, and the D's and Obama can say "look we just want to cut taxes for the middle class" and push for a 250k or 400k or whatever tax break. At that time it will be a tax cutting measure and what are the republicans going to do say no and let the rates stay higher?
The D's will look reasonable and the R's will look like dumbasses mostly to the people in the middle who want some sort of compromise.
Rope a fucking dope. Obama is master of it. It's almost like the D's knew the republicans wouldn't even take a sweet ass deal that Obama proposed. Thus when they rejected it they'd look like idiots giving the D's and Obama more power.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. If this is indeed what Obama intended, he played it masterfully.
Sadly, I find it very depressing that American politics has gotten so insane that rope-a-dope strategies are considered legitimate.
Every step of the GOP since the election has been like clockwork. I've been waiting for the tea party to force this schism for years, and Obama's victory was the only thing that needed to happen to seal the deal.
They look like dumbasses right now. Plan B would habe allowed Republicans to shift the blame because they knew Dems would vote against it. They could sit back and say they tried to save the middle class but Dems would not meet them.
I don't think there is a halfway point between no tax increase on anyone and increases on some. Once Boehner offered the million figure to counter Obama's $200/$250K offer wouldn't halfway be $600/$650K?
Comments
What should it say? ;^)
... surely there are enough videos of Saionji being the universe's bitch to use as a metaphor. ;D
Tax increase on the job creators! We can't do that! Instead we'll end up firing all the Federal employees!
The Republicans just did the equivalent of a no confidence vote. Fuck!
See here:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/21/the-anti-plan-b-gop-they-only-look-crazy.html
The D's will look reasonable and the R's will look like dumbasses mostly to the people in the middle who want some sort of compromise.
I don't think there is a halfway point between no tax increase on anyone and increases on some. Once Boehner offered the million figure to counter Obama's $200/$250K offer wouldn't halfway be $600/$650K?