[sickoflibs]

RE :”DeMint also makes a point that more reporters should be asking President Obama and his surrogates: if the national debt is no big deal, and a few billion in spending here and there amounts to mere pocket change, why not just extend the entire Bush tax rate package for another year and have a longer, more serious discussion about what to do next?”

Alternatively I bet not one Republican who won ran on claiming that the middle class voters taxes MUST GO UP if they cant get tax cut extensions on fractional income earnings over $250K with it signed by Obama.
You know how I know this? Because not one Republican is explicitly saying this now, not even Norqist.

Its coding language : Voting for a bill extending the partial set of tax cuts is now coded as the phrase ‘voting to raise taxes’ because those doing it know this is a loser.

Disarm this weapon from Obama so you can fight him, then he is the one who raised taxes not you. With any luck all the other cliff stuff will slow the economy down and then ya got an argument against raising taxes.

Nothing good can come from the stand above. Why do so many love losing?

[stephenjohnbanker]

” Disarm this weapon from Obama so you can fight him, then he is the one who raised taxes not you. With any luck all the other cliff stuff will slow the economy down and then ya got an argument against raising taxes.”

This is by far, the best option. Actually, the only one.

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

Disarm this weapon from Obama so you can fight him, then he is the one who raised taxes not you. With any luck all the other cliff stuff will slow the economy down and then ya got an argument against raising taxes. Nothing good can come from the stand above. Why do so many love losing?

No doubt Boehner has this message repeating in his brain: "If I pass a partial extension of the tax cuts for those below $X, then O can either sign it an do a victory dance (and Grover will torture me), or he will veto it and demand something else."

But the latter option, demanding something more (stimulus?), is clearly a riskier position for O than the House doing nothing but bluster, letting the budget control act do its thing.

Similarly, if the senate blocks the partial tax cut, that looks bad for Dems. However, one thing that worries me is that the simple bill gets amended in the senate, and then moves to the Pork-O-Rama bicameral conference, followed by a quick vote before they have time to read the bill.

O could sign the bill and do a victory dance, saying he kept his campaign promise. If the GOP is right about small businesses suffering as a result, that should become evident, although it's not clear to me whether voters understand or care about the economy at this time.

Maybe Boehner will see the light. I am not going to hold my breath. Dems are already rehearsing their talking points (and the media and many public school teachers will echo whatever they say): "Who refused to lower middle class taxes?"