Delaware Dem

Tuesday Open Thread [12.4.12]

Is there a deal in sight?

First Read: “While the two proposals seem far apart — and they are — look at them when you split the difference between the two. You get $1.2 trillion in revenue and about $450 to $500 billion in savings to Medicare and Medicaid. And then say you throw in some stimulus for the Democrats (unemployment insurance, transportation spending), as well as the cost-of-living adjustments on Social Security for Republicans. That sounds like a pretty serious deal that both sides could live with, though it would look more like a “win” for the White House. Of course, Republicans would have to relent (in some form or fashion) on rates going up, while Democrats would have to acquiesce (one way or another) on the Social Security.”

David Brooks: “Republicans have to realize that they are going to cave on tax rates. The only question is what they get in return. What they should demand is this: That the year 2013 will be spent putting together a pro-growth tax and entitlement reform package that will put this country on a sound financial footing through 2040.”

Both Chuck Todd and David Brooks say that the Republicans will have to cave and surrender on the tax rates going up. There is universal agreement from every serious person about that fact. But only one Republican, Congressman Tom Cole, has dared to recognize that fact, and he was treated like a traitor. Indeed, Boehner is already getting a conservative backlash against the “counteroffer” he made to President Obama, as if it was wrong to even make any counter offer to the President. Boehner has to be the weakest and most ineffectual Speaker in the history of the United States.

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Monday Open Thread

Hillary Clinton for President, 2016:

All kinds of circumstances could intervene between now and 2016 to derail her—politics, health, family matters, a renewed Clinton fatigue—but Hillary’s numbers are enormous, her ambition equal to her capacities, and she was in high political gear.

Nancy Pelosi for Speaker, 2014:

“If Speaker Boehner refuses to schedule this widely-supported [Middle Class Tax Cut] bill for a vote, Democrats will introduce a discharge petition to automatically bring to the floor the Senate-passed middle class tax cuts,” Pelosi said in a statement.

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No Daily Delawhere this morning.

Yes, I fell down on the job after a fun filled long weekend in D.C., hanging out with the Prez, making fun of Boehner. Daily Delawhere will return tomorrow morning as scheduled.

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