Wednesday, December 05, 2012

FRACTURED

Cracks are starting to appear inside the GOP. Members are not happy that John Boehner seems to be actually trying to make a deal with Obama on the deficit. The true believers and teabaggers would much rather see things go to hell, because extremists always thrive on chaos

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/12/not_going_over_well.php
A conservative backlash is already emerging against the “counteroffer” to President Obama made yesterday by Speaker Boehner and the House GOP leadership. . . .

 http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/radio-silence-from-senate-gop-leaders-on-boehner-budget-plan.php
Senate Republican leaders are keeping their distance from a budget proposal their House GOP counterparts sent to President Obama on Monday . . . 

 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/04/jim-demint-john-boehner-fiscal-cliff_n_2237786.html
And the latest headache comes courtesy of Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), who rejected Boehner's bid, despite having previously stated that the sort of concessions that Boehner makes in his counteroffer would be absolutely necessary to cutting a deal. . . .

 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323401904578159292998710054.html
GOP Deficit Plan Irks Conservatives

http://www.nj.com/us-politics/index.ssf/2012/12/gop_risks_civil_war_with_right.html
Republicans are risking a rebellion with conservatives over taxes if party leaders compromise any more in the fiscal cliff talks, especially if they raise tax rates. . . 

 I love this too: the hardliners in the party, who have been ruthlessly purging any moderates or compromisers, are now whining that they are being pushed out of leadership positions by the party "establishment." We just had an election in which their hardline positions ruined Romney's chances and cost the GOP control of the Senate. But that doesn't matter: the failure of the party, as we are told by Fox News, Rush, et al. is always that the party isn't conservative ENOUGH

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/right-fears-purge-as-gop-leadership-takes-control.php
Conservatives fear they’re being pushed aside by Republican leaders as the party looks to regroup from its election losses. 

“At the end of the day we lost seats in the House, we lost seats in the Senate, we couldn’t win the presidency, and the response is to purge conservatives,” Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-KS) said Tuesday . . . [read on]

http://tinyurl.com/a89t2gj
If losing the 2012 election was tough for movement conservatives, the month since the loss has been even tougher. They’ve losing every internal power struggle that matters. On Nov. 14, conservative Rep. Tom Price lost a secret ballot election for a leadership post. The next day, the conservative Republican Study Committee gave its chairmanship to Rep. Steve Scalise, who’d been opposed by the group’s former leaders—like Tom Price. . . . [read on]

 More: http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/12/04/15673278-boehner-penalizes-recalcitrant-caucus-members

 Looks like the Republicans are still playing "you go first" on entitlement cuts -- even if they have to suppress their own (Ryan) budget proposal to do it

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gop-budget-20121205,0,7787370.story
The austere federal budget plan drafted by Rep. Paul D. Ryan and embraced by Republicans as a sweeping reimagining of government has hit a roadblock on the way to the so-called fiscal cliff. . . .

But on Monday, when House Republicans sent the White House their counteroffer on how to avert year-end tax increases and spending cuts, the Ryan budget was shunted aside. Republican leaders, acknowledging intense opposition from Democrats, concluded "it would be counterproductive." . . .

 What is the endgame?

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/05/us/politics/gop-seeks-fallback-position-on-tax-fight.html
With President Obama insisting on higher tax rates for affluent Americans and winning public support for the idea, Congressional Republicans find themselves in an increasingly difficult political spot and are quietly beginning to look for a way out.  . . .

 More: http://prospect.org/article/republicans-exposed

Look, Obama's opening offer wasn't one he expected the GOP to like, either. But here is an assessment of the "balanced" Boehner offer

http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/12/04/15671839-the-plan-the-right-is-pretending-not-to-like 

Boehner tried to call his plan the "Bowles" plan. But here IS the Bowles plan

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/04/11-shocking-true-facts-about-simpson-bowles/ 
11 shocking, true facts about Simpson-Bowles

Everything you want to know about the fiscal cliff, in one post
 

No, it is not going to be easy to get the Republican party back into the mainstream

Today, The Corner linked to a conversation with Jonah Goldberg and John O’Sullivan on “the problem of demographics for the Republican coalition.” The pull-quote in the link explained that if the GOP is to win over asian-american and latino voters, it it must “persuade them to think of themselves primarily as Americans.” I can’t understand why they’re having trouble, given this keen understanding of the voters they’re trying to reach. . . . [read on]

Senate Republicans Block Ratification Of U.N. Treaty On Rights For The Disabled, Citing Impact On Home-Schoolers . . .

 More: http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2012/12/these-zealots-can-find-controversy.html

http://pamshouseblend.firedoglake.com/2012/12/04/how-low-can-you-go-senate-gop-tanks-disabilities-treaty-siding-with-paranoid-santorum-glenn-beck/

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/12/conservatives-hate-treaties-and-they-always-have

 Looks like filibuster reform is going to happen

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/harry-reid-filibuster-reform.php

Fact-free zone

 http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/12/04/nearly_half_of_republicans_think_election_was_stolen.html
A new Public Policy Polling survey shows finds that 49% of Republican voters nationally say they think that ACORN stole the election for President Obama, as compared to 52% that thought ACORN stole the 2008 election, "a modest decline, but perhaps smaller than might have been expected given that ACORN doesn't exist anymore."

More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/04/1167191/-Forty-nine-percent-of-Republicans-think-thing-that-doesn-t-exist-stole-election-for-nbsp-Obama

Apparently Republican voter suppression backfired, actually INCREASED minority turnout

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/voter-id-backfire.php

[NB: "Hell yes, we're gonna vote!"]
  
How Fox News tries to shape the political process, not just report it

 http://prospect.org/article/insiderism-action

 http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/12/04/15672607-when-roger-ailes-tried-to-play-kingmaker

 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/04/1167112/-Comedy-The-Fox-News-brain-trust-had-a-plan-to-make-Petraeus-president

 http://www.emptywheel.net/2012/12/04/shorter-roger-ailes-im-not-a-kingmaker-im-a-chairman-maker

 Fox News sidelines two of its finest commentators (temporarily, I'm sure)

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/12/05/fox_news_benches_karl_rove_and_dick_morris.html
Fox News Benches Karl Rove and Dick Morris

[NB: So, perhaps this means that lying and knowingly misleading viewers isn't okay even at this fine journalistic institution.]

But we always will still have Sarah

 http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/12/04/bonus_quote_of_the_day.html
"He believes in socialism, in redistributing, in confiscating hard-earned dollars of our small businessmen and women so that they cannot re-invest their dollars and hire more people and grow and expand. Instead he believes in these failed socialist policies."

-- Sarah Palin, speaking about President Obama on Fox News. 

More! http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/04/1167141/-Palin-apologizes-for-name-calling-then-calls-Obama-a-socialist-because-she-s-Palin



***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com


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Tuesday, December 04, 2012

LET'S MAKE A DEAL?

Boehner makes a counteroffer in the deficit fight -- and while it's not even remotely acceptable, the Repubs are looking like people who really need to make a deal
 
As Jed Lewison expained earlier, House Republican leadership has responded to President Obama's initial offering on so-called fiscal cliff negotiations with a refusal to consider tax rate increases and a sketchy proposal cribbed from some ideas Erskine Bowles gave to the Super Congress last year.. . . [read on]

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/03/read-boehners-new-counterproposal
[More details]
 
House Republicans on Monday introduced a counter-offer to President Barack Obama's proposed solution to the so-called fiscal cliff, trumpeting that the proposal would not raise tax rates on personal income. The plan does, however, include a sizeable tax hike. . . .
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/03/boehners-latest-tax-offer-is-150-billion-less-than-he-offered-in-2011/ 
Boehner’s latest tax offer is $150 billion less than he offered in 2011

[David Dayen] John Boehner delivered a letter to the White House today about the fiscal slope, and I just find it to be weird. . . . Boehner laments the terrible partisanship of the Geithner proposal, which he frames in ways favorable to the Republican position. He says that the spending cuts in last year’s debt limit deal should not count toward total deficit reduction, saying this “confuses the public debate.” So those spending cuts, $1 trillion strong, have vanished, and don’t count toward a $4 trillion goal (neither do war funding savings, even though they were included in the Ryan budget). Boehner also criticizes the inclusion of new stimulus in the package, despite the clear need for more work toward economic recovery.

Then there’s this curious line: “If we were to take your Administration’s proposal at face value, then we would counter with the House-passed Budget resolution.” Boehner proceeds to… propose the House-passed Budget resolution. That’s the one that includes the end of Medicare as we know it into a premium support program, the block-granting of Medicaid and food stamps, and massive layoffs and pay cuts for federal employees.

After introducing this into the debate, Boehner says, putting on his moderate face, that given the status-quo election, it would be unwise to propose these “absolutely essential” reforms that he just spent a full page describing in detail. This represents Boehner trying to be seen as the more reasonable actor in this debate. So after determining the essential nature of these social insurance slashes, Boehner drops them.

Then he casts about for off-the-shelf solutions to get through the fiscal slope. He name-checks the “Biden group” (which worked on cuts prior to last year’s debt limit deal), the Boehner-Obama discussions right before the debt limit deal, and the Super Committee. All of these failed miserably and came to no resolution, so then Boehner goes into left field and pulls out Bowles-Simpson.

He repeatedly calls this the “Bowles plan” . . .

 http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/john-boehner-sends-bowles-fiscal-stalem
[Erskine Bowles] While I'm flattered the Speaker would call something "the Bowles plan," the approach outlined in the letter Speaker Boehner sent to the President does not represent the Simpson-Bowles plan, nor is it the Bowles plan. In my testimony before the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, I simply took the mid-point of the public offers put forward during the negotiations to demonstrate where I thought a deal could be reached at that time.

More: http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/boehner-counter-offer-to-obama-includes-higher-medicare-age-social-security-benefit-cut.php

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/12/gop-makes-first-fiscal-cliff-counteroffer.html
 
What's really going on

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/03/boehner-tries-to-call-a-mulligan/
[Ezra Klein] If you ignore the first nine paragraphs in his letter to President Obama — nine paragraphs in which he vents about the White House and rehashes the virtues of the Ryan budget — it’s a far more centrist proposal than anything Boehner has offered in public before now. But it’s essentially identical to what he offered in his talks with Obama, and to what Bowles offered Republicans during the supercommittee talks. Which is understandable. Those deals must be looking pretty good to Boehner about now.

There were many who advised Republicans to take those deals in 2011. Democrats were back on their heels, and they were offering up more than most observers had believed possible. At the New York Times, David Brooks called it “an astonishing concession” and said that “If the Republican Party were a normal party, it would take advantage of this amazing moment.”

It didn’t. It bet instead that it could get a better deal in 2013, when Obama, whose popularity was then in the high-30s, would be replaced by a Republican president. The bet failed. . . . [read on] 

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/12/proposals-background-are-not-real-proposals-all
[Kevin Drum] [E]very news account of Boehner's proposal says that it includes (a) an increase in the Medicare eligibility age, and (b) a change in the way inflation is calculated, which would reduce Social Security benefits. But neither of those things is in the letter he sent to President Obama. So where did they come from? The answer, apparently, is from anonymous GOP aides on background. And if that's the case, it should have been clearly reported that way. Because that's not a proposal at all, it's a way of pretending to make a proposal that can be disavowed and denied at any time if it becomes inconvenient. If it were real, after all, Boehner would have put it in his letter.. . .
 
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/12/03/15649952-dont-call-it-a-counteroffer
[Steve Benen] Under this proposal, Republicans would keep all of the Bush-era tax rates, but accept $800 billion in new revenue. How? Through "through pro-growth tax reform that closes special-interest loopholes and deductions while lowering rates."

From there, the GOP leaders want to cut $600 billion from Medicare and Medicaid; cut $300 billion from mandatory programs; cut $200 billion by changing the consumer price index; and then cut another $300 billion in further discretionary spending.

To call this a "counteroffer" is to strip the word of meaning. Under the GOP plan, Republicans get the more than $1 trillion in spending cuts Obama already gave them; Republicans get the entitlement cuts they want; Republicans get hundreds of billions of dollars in additional cuts to programs they haven't identified; and Republicans get all of the Bush-era tax rates they've prioritized.

This isn't a "counteroffer"; it's a Christmas wish list written by kids without access to calculators.

But Democrats would get $800 billion in new revenue, right? Well, no, probably not -- Boehner says he can get the money by closing "loopholes and deductions," but we know that's not true. . . .

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_12/gop_fiscal_maneuvers041551.php
[Ed Kilgore] You could read this as Republicans deciding to get more specific on “entitlement reform” than on taxes (it’s extremely unlikely that you can come up with $800 billion in “loopholes” to close without hitting the middle class), or simply choosing the least inflammatory ways to reduce entitlement spending. Or—and this is my personal take at the moment—it could just be an offer meant to be refused that just gets the GOP out of the immediate problem it had with appearing unwilling to put anything on the table.. . . [read on]

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2012/12/03/boehners-offer-a-start-but-its-still-unclear-whether-its-real

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/12/john-boehners-smoke-mirrors-deficit-proposal
 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/12/04/republicans-losing-blame-game-on-fiscal-cliff/
A majority of Americans say that if the country goes over the fiscal cliff on Dec. 31, congressional Republicans should bear the brunt of the blame . . .

 The good old days (are gone)

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/174925-boehner-i-got-98-percent-of-what-i-wanted-in-debt-deal
[Aug. 2, 2011] Boehner: I got ’98 percent’ of what I wanted in debt deal
 
Jan Brewer, idiot

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/12/03/1273111/arizona-governor-shocked-reporter-would-ask-about-climate-change-before-energy-speech/
[Jan Brewer (R), Ariz, governor, on climate change] Everybody has an opinion on it, you know, and I probably don’t believe that it’s man made. I believe that, you know, that weather and certain elements are controlled maybe by different things.

[NB: The GOP denialist position on climate change has always puzzled me. Why would any party WANT to see the planet destroyed by global warming? But now I see. Adding this position to the position presented here, yesterday, that God gave us fossil fuels to use and wants us to use them, it seems that the theocrats see planetary devastation as just another part of God's plan - the beginning of the End of Days, perhaps.] 

More weirdness: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/12/happy_trails_1.php
The last time a sitting Governor of a state left on an unexplained vacation and staffers refused t disclose where they were or when they’d return, things ended up getting pretty weird. Looks like we’ve got another Guv in an undisclosed location. . . .
 
From the AP …
Gov. Jan Brewer has taken a nearly week-long out-of-state work trip that was shrouded in secrecy Monday as she skipped an event to certify election ballots and her spokesman refused to disclose her location.
Bonus item: John McCain desperately wants his war buddy, John Kerry, to be Sect'y of State instead of Susan Rice. But Kerry's not having any of it. Watch!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/03/1166935/-John-Kerry-has-a-little-fun-returning-John-McCain-s-Mr-Secretary-joke


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Monday, December 03, 2012

IN A BOX

The GOPers are in a bind - and they're not taking it well

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/boehner-i-was-flabbergasted-at-dems-proposal
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said that he was "flabbergasted" by the debt deal proposal the White House made to Republicans this week when Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met with leaders on the Hill, during an interview on "Fox News Sunday."

"Flabbergasted," Boehner said of his reaction to the proposal. "I looked at him and I said, 'You can't be serious.' I've just never seen anything like it." . . .

 http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/12/02/quote_of_the_day.html
[Boehner] "Right now I would say we're nowhere. Period. We're nowhere."
 
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/12/there_will_be_hilarity.php
[Josh Marshall]  Having declared ‘fiscal cliff’ negotiations essentially dead last week, John Boehner went on Fox News Sunday in something like tantrum mode, bewailing the President’s lack of a ‘serious’ plan or any plan or something. 

As we should expect from all players in this standoff there’s an element of playing to the bleachers. But what’s unmistakable in this case is some level of genuine bewilderment. Boehner and Co expect and are accustomed to President Obama kicking off negotiations with an opening offer that seems like something the two sides might eventually agree to after a lot of hard negotiating — and then going a little further in the Republicans’ direction. . . .

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/02/boehner-gop-willing-to-raise-800-billion-in-tax-revenue 
BOEHNER: "Listen, what is this difference where the money comes from? We put $800 billion worth of revenue, which is what he’s asking for out of eliminating the top two tax rates."

[Suzy Khimm] Republicans have yet to put out a detailed proposal—on tax capping deductions or otherwise—that shows how you would get to $800 billion in revenue, which is only half of the $1.6 trillion revenue target that Obama is asking for.

The White House believes it’s impossible to make that target without hitting popular tax breaks like the charitable deduction unless you also target those with incomes below $250,000, citing calculations by the Tax Policy Center. . . 

 http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/geithner-republicans-are-in-tough-position
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that Republicans are in a "tough position" with regards to a debt deal because they still have to figure out what their side is willing to put forward, during an interview on "Fox News Sunday." While Republicans have called on Democrats to propose cuts to entitlements, Geithner argued on Sunday that Democrats had put forward a detailed plan and that if Republicans want something different, then the ball is in their court.

"They're in kind of a tough position now," Geithner said. "They're trying to figure out how to find a way to support things that they know they're gonna have to do. That's going to be hard for them. . . ."

 http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/mccaskill-i-feel-almost-sorry-for-john-boehner
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) said that she feels "almost sorry" for House Speaker John Boehner during an appearance on NBC's "Meet the Press" Sunday, explaining that Boehner is in a tough spot because of the far-right wing of the Republican Party.

"I feel almost sorry for John Boehner," McCaskill said. "There is incredible pressure on him from a base of his party that is unreasonable about this. And he's gotta decide, is his speakership more important, or is the country more important. . . ." 

What next?

 http://www.samefacts.com/2012/12/taxation/over-the-cliff/
[Mark Kleiman] I haven’t been paying close attention to the Fiscal Cliff negotiations. I’ve been more or less assuming that since the shape of a final deal seems fairly obvious, the two sides would decide to reach that deal before rather than after damaging the economy and the country’s international standing with another demonstration of our inability to govern ourselves.

That might be true. But this weekend I became aware of another interpretation, held by some people who are both smart and well-connected. 

On this alternative theory, Republicans are so terrified of Grover Norquist that they simply will not vote for rate increases, while the White House has done the arithmetic and knows that no plan without rate increases can be made to add up, even if the housing industry, the charitable sector, and the state and local government would hold still for it.

But the day after we go over the cliff and rates rise all by themselves, it becomes much easier for Republicans to vote for what would then be a pure tax cut. And the reaction from the markets and the corporate sector to the cliff-diving exercise will concentrate their minds. . . .

I just hope that the White House follows through on Dick Durbin’s insistence that one element of the deal must be the abolition of the debt ceiling, which Boehner promises to use as an extortionate threat every time it comes up.

 That damn debt ceiling

 http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/boehner-raising-debt-limit-will-always-come-with
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said that Congress will not give up control over the nation's debt limit and that each time the limit is raised, Congress will demand cuts and reforms . . . "I've made it clear to the president, that every time we get to the debt limit, we need to cut some reforms that are greater than the increase in the debt limit. It's the only way to leverage the political process to produce more change than what it would if left alone."

David Gergen thinks Boehner is winning the argument -- what do YOU think?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/12/gergen_taking_full_advantage_of_pot_legalization.php
"Old White House hands from the GOP side — people who like our Presidents to succeed —are privately warning that if the White House and allied Democrats keep pushing so hard-fisted on deficits, Susan Rice and Senate filibuster rules, relations with Republicans on the Hill will become even more poisonous in the next four years than in the past. . ." [read on]

 More: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2012/12/foreboding.php

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/operation-rolling-tantrum/
[Paul Krugman] Operation Rolling Tantrum

 Grover Norquist: wait for the NEW and IMPROVED Tea Party

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/norquist-tea-party-two-going-dwarf-tea-par
"Understand how ugly the next four years are going to get. . . . Let’s not pretend who’s pushing us over the cliff."
 
Who IS the leader of the Republican party right now? Anybody?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/12/02/romneys_loss_created_a_gop_leadership_vacuum.html
 
A few days ago we asked why Asian-Americans voted in even greater numbers for Obama than Hispanic Americans. Here's part of it

 http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_12/why_do_asian_americans_vote_so041529.php

 Did the GOPers learn any lessons from the election? Not where women are concerned

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/women-republicans-exit-polls-sandra-fluke-gifts.php
 
Somebody's gotta tell this dude the campaign is over
 
Dan Senor, a top adviser to former GOP nominee Mitt Romney, on Sunday lashed out at President Barack Obama for meeting with progressive groups like MoveOn.org after winning the election, but ignored similar meetings with business leaders.. . .

Very interesting: did the Dems take better advantage of Citizens United than the Repubs?

 
In case you missed the Sunday talk shows

 
Bonus item: Theocracy watch: fossil fuels are a gift from God and it is sacrilegious not to use them


 [NB: Really? Wow. Really??]
***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com


I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
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Sunday, December 02, 2012

A TAXING ARGUMENT

 This is smart. Obama is managing to make the whole deficit debate right now about taxes. That's a bad spot for the Repubs
 
In response, the White House laid down a marker: “A senior administration official said the White House would make no new offers until Republicans changed their opposition to raising top tax rates.” . . .
   
Obama accuses 'some Republicans in Congress' of holding middle-class tax cuts hostage
 
[NB: If nothing is done by December 31, then taxes go up on everybody. And people won't blame Obama.]

Cracks surface in Republican unity on not raising tax rates 

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2012/12/01/fewer_republicans_signing_anti-tax_pledge.html
Fewer Republicans Signing Anti-Tax Pledge 

Meanwhile, Grover Norquist waves the bloody shirt

“We are about to have a Tea Party second wave that will dwarf the first wave and that is because while ‘spend too much’ brought the Tea Party into existence, we’re about to walk into ‘spend too much, regulate too much, and tax too much,’ all together. It’s going to be a perfect storm of annoying government behavior, which is devastating to the economy, and I think the small business community which is particularly hit by Obama’s tax increases are going to lead the fight bigger, stronger, tougher than the last Tea Party.” [read on]
 
I think this is called a "counterfactual subjunctive"

How a sane political system would deal with the fiscal cliff

 Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/30/3120564_report-on-gop-shindig-to-remain.html#storylink=addthis#storylink=cpy

 Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/11/30/3120564_report-on-gop-shindig-to-remain.html#storylink=addthis#storylink=cpy

Damn straight

In The Boston Globe, Robert Kuttner argues that John Kerry shouldn’t be nominated as secretary of state or defense. Doing so, he says, would legitimize baseless Republican attacks on UN ambassador Susan Rice . . . [read on]

The new way of war

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/12/military-intelligence-boundaries-grow-ever-fuzzier

Yep, that Republican soul-searching is really going deep

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/01/1166124/-Ted-Cruz-to-Republicans-Let-s-do-what-we-did-but-more-of-it
Ted Cruz to Republicans: Let's do what we did, but more of it

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-the-gop-and-its-urge-to-purge/2012/11/30/57423550-3b03-11e2-8a97-363b0f9a0ab3_story.html
[Dana Milbank] It seems the Republicans have run out of squishy moderates to purge. Now they’re starting to run conservatives out of town for being insufficiently doctrinaire. . . .
 


You know, I wondered about this when Obama invited Romney to the White House -- I think people are really a little bit worried about him


http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2012/12/01/ann-romney-is-just-sitting-around-listening-to-adele-and-crying-all-the-time-now/



I didn't know it was this easy to write a column and get it printed in the Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kathleen-parker-when-obama-and-romney-lunch-the-fly-sees-all/2012/11/30/0a10af18-3b2c-11e2-8a97-363b0f9a0ab3_story.html 

The Sunday talk show line-ups

http://firedoglake.com/2012/12/02/sunday-talking-heads-december-2-2012/
ABC’s This Week:  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Roundtable: House Deputy Whip Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK); Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus; former Romney campaign senior adviser Dan Senor; former Counselor to the Treasury Secretary and Lead Auto Adviser Steven Rattner; ABC News’ Cokie Roberts.

CBS’ Face the Nation:  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Then, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) for fiscal cliff AND Benghazi. Plus, Senate Intelligence Chair Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), and House Intelligence Chair Mike Rogers (R-MI). Roundtable: Moody’s Analytics Mark Zandi, Campaign to Fix the Debt’s Maya MacGuineas, TIME Magazine’s Rana Foroohar, CBS News Political Director John Dickerson.

Chris Hayes:  Taxes and social insurance; state budget crunches; Washington’s marijuana law. Gov. Dannel Malloy (@GovMalloyOffice), Democrat of Connecticut. Elizabeth Pearson, fellow at The Roosevelt Institute. Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett), contributor to The New York Times’ blog Economix , columnist for The Fiscal Times and Tax Note,  author of “The Benefit and the Burden.” Maya Wiley (@mayawiley), founder and president of the Center for Social Inclusion. Tony Dokoupil, senior writer at Newsweek and The Daily Beast. Kevin Sabet (@KevinSabet), assistant professor at The University of Florida’s Drug Policy Institute and former senior advisor in the Office of National Drug Control Policy in the Obama administration. Veronique de Rugy (@veroderugy), senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Dedrick Muhammad, senior economic director at the NAACP.
 
CNN’s State of the Union:  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. Then, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R- NH). Roundtable: Former Chairman and CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Carly Fiorina; Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D-MT), USA Today’s Susan Page, A.B. Stoddard of The Hill.

 CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" -- Harvard University’s Tarek Masoud and Steven Cook, author of The Struggle for Egypt; writer Evan Osnos and Council on Foreign Relations fellow Elizabeth Economy; Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

NBC’s Meet the Press:  Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.  Then, Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN).  Roundtable: Grover Norquist, Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Jim Cramer, Maria Bartiromo 

Bonus item: Popcorn!

The Fifth District Court of Appeal on Friday ruled in favor of anonymous petitioners who want to block the release of investigative reports about a gathering in the Bahamas sponsored by the Republican Party of Florida when Jim Greer was chairman.

 Greer faces trial in February for allegedly defrauding the party of about $200,000. Reports of the party and prostitutes surfaced during a pretrial hearing in the summer.

 Orlando Judge Marc Lubet declared the reports public record in July after hearing objections from Orlando lawyer Richard E. Hornsby who said he wanted to spare his clients from being embarrassed.

 Hornsby said the four-page police report is “defamatory’’ and “salacious and basically harassing in nature.’’ He would not identify the clients who want to keep it sealed. . . .

Johnson was Greer’s top assistant but has been granted immunity in return for his testimony against Greer. In a deposition released last month, Johnson said prosecutors asked him about the Bahamas event.

 Johnson described a golf cart filled with women he presumed to be prostitutes.

 Other witnesses questioned in the Greer investigation say the former GOP chairman often had parties for men only and refused to allow women unless they were “paid.”

 Ballard and Eagle have denied knowing about prostitutes at the gathering, which was designed to thank donors who helped support a property tax amendment the party supported. About 100 people attended. 

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com


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Saturday, December 01, 2012

UNSERIOUS

 Obviously we are in the kabuki stage of the deficit negotiations: everything is posturing and brinksmanship, until the talks really get serious. Nevertheless, it's revealing to see the head of the Republican contingent bemoaning "stalemate," when he HASN'T EVEN PUT FORTH A PROPOSAL YET

 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/30/1166096/-Boehner-steps-into-the-abyss
“There’s a stalemate,” Boehner said at a news conference. “Let’s not kid ourselves. . .” [read on]

 http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/boehner-declines-to-name-specific-entitlement-cuts-he
Boehner Declines To Name Specific Entitlement Cuts He Seeks In Deal
[Michael Grunwald] It’s really amazing to see political reporters dutifully passing along Republican complaints that President Obama’s opening offer in the fiscal cliff talks is just a recycled version of his old plan, when those same reporters spent the last year dutifully passing along Republican complaints that Obama had no plan. It’s even more amazing to see them pass along Republican outrage that Obama isn’t cutting Medicare enough, in the same matter-of-fact tone they used during the campaign to pass along Republican outrage that Obama was cutting Medicare. . . [read on]

 How they do it

 http://swampland.time.com/2012/11/30/how-to-negotiate/
[Joe Klein] The Republicans are, reportedly, outraged by President Obama’s opening bid in the fiscal cliff talks. Republicans always seem to be outraged. It’s getting boring. They need to step up and make a counter-offer. 

That’s how people negotiate. In this case, they need to be specific about the spending cuts they want. When their specific initial offer is on the table, then you can haggle. (Of course, it’s entirely possible that all this is a smokescreen and actual haggling is taking place privately, between John Boehner and the President.)

But it is time to stow the Republican intemperance. It might have seemed “righteous” indignation when the GOP was deluding itself about representing a majority of Americans; now, it just seem puerile and petulant. Take, for example, this little outburst by Charles Krauthammer, in which the Administration’s opening bid is compared, unfavorably, to the unconditional surrender imposed on the South at Appamatox. Oh please. Does he really believe this infantile foot-stomping–the Republicans should walk out of the talks!–is going to be effective? Maybe so, given the fact that he’s lost his mind about so many other things in recent years.

What is difficult for the Fox talking heads to understand is this: We had an election. The President won. This gives him greater leverage than the last election we had, in 2010, when the President’s party lost. It isn’t absolute leverage, obviously, but it’s more than he had.  Wise Republicans know this score–and will negotiate as hard as they can to match the revenue increases with reasonable long-term entitlement cuts. . . . [read on]

Wonkbook

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/11/30/wonkbook-obamas-strategy-for-the-fiscal-cliff-comes-clear
Obama’s strategy for the fiscal cliff comes clear

The next time the Repubs say they want to return to the good ol' days of Reagan era tax cuts
 
Your taxes are (probably) lower than they were in the ’80s
Under public ridicule, the Repubs finally name a woman to chair a House committee -- the committee that nobody wants

 http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/11/women-committee-chairs-republicans.php
“I’m not sure which was worse: House Republicans refusing to have any women Chair a Legislative Committee or only appointing a woman to Chair the Congressional Housekeeping Committee,” said one Democratic official. . . . [read on]

 http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/30/15577144-house-republicans-find-a-woman-in-their-ranks
In an amusing twist, usually committee chairs are elevated from within the committee, but Boehner had a problem: in the two remaining committees, there were no Republican women on either. . . 

 More: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/11/30/1166103/-John-Boehner-s-latest-bone-headed-move

 [NB: Someone needs to send them "binders full of women"]

 Is filibuster reform going to happen?

 http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/11/will-democrats-vote-filibuster-reform

 http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2012_11/odds_improving_on_filibuster_r041499.php

 Boehner, again: http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/11/30/boehner-threatens-no-votes-on-senate-bills-if-democrats-push-through-filibuster-reform/
Boehner Threatens No Votes on Senate Bills if Democrats Push Through Filibuster Reform

 http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/11/30/15571556-boehner-jumps-into-senates-filibuster-reform-fight

 http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2012/11/30/why-boehners-filibuster-threat-is-so-pathetically-empty/
Why Boehner’s Filibuster Threat Is So Pathetically Empty 

In the most interesting piece of the day, Rachel Maddow asks, What would it mean to "end" the war on terror? And is it time to do that?

 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/#50034293

 Bonus item: Everyone knows Obama invited Romney over for lunch at the White House. Jon Stewart does the rest . . .

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/11/30/the-daily-show-on-the-obama-romney-lunch-video/

***If you enjoy PBD and support what we are doing, you can help by forwarding a copy of this issue to your friends (using the envelope link below) or by sending them a copy of its URL: http://pbd.blogspot.com


I don’t get anything personally out of this project, except the satisfaction of doing it (I don’t run ads, etc.). The credit really all goes to the people whose material I copy and redistribute. But if I do have a “mission,” it is to get this information into the hands of as many people as I can.***
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