Aren't we all just a little weary of Drama-Season?

[SoCalDem]

I so wish that Pres. O had just said "There will be no more negotiations until the new congress is seated in January...the voters told us what they wanted... Bush set these up to expire..and expire they will"..

All the hand-wringing and angst is ridiculous.

republicans refuse to negotiate...they apparently don't know the meaning of the word.. so F-em..

[Octafish]

1. Excellent idea!

Wonder what the impact to the Treasury of Smirko's tax cuts for hid cronies
amounts to?

[cbayer]

2. I thought this was going to be about Meta.

[Squinch]

3. Totally agree.

[Laurian]

4. Amen! That would set them back on their heels

and they might (rare chance) come back and act reasonably.

[Poll_Blind]

5. No, no! There's still a chance the President can snatch Defeat from the jaws of Victory!

After reading this article from the AP just a few minutes ago, I have no idea why Obama is still meeting with Boehner at all.

PB

[patrice]

6. Completely agree!!! Tired of it. nt

[Avalux]

7. Yeah, but luckily reality is starting to set in:

One of President Barack Obama's Senate allies said Thursday the White House has assured him the president won't yield to GOP demands to increase the eligibility age for Medicare.

Obama's fellow Illinois Democrat, Sen. Dick Durbin, told reporters that increasing the Medicare age is "no longer one of the items being considered by the White House."

At a news conference, Reid again called on House Republicans to allow a vote on renewing Bush-era tax cuts for the 98 percent of taxpayers whose incomes are below $250,000. Obama vows to force rates on family income exceeding $250,000 from a top rate of 35 percent to the Clinton-era rate of 39.6 percent. He said the alternative is to allow tax cuts for everyone to expire.

On Thursday, Sen. Jim DeMint, a South Carolina Republican and leading conservative figure, predicted that Obama would prevail in the fight over taxes.

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/12/fiscal_cliff_president_obama_w_1.html

[sabrina 1]

8. Durbin has changed his mind. He has been contacted by

the huge Liberal Coalition of over one hundred organizations since he was one of those who back in April, stated that these programs should be on the table. It just shows that when Liberals get organized they are a real force. No more being told their ideas are 'retarded'. I am happy to see that Moveon has returned to acting like a Liberal organization instead of caving in order to gain access. Maybe they too learned that when you betray those who got you to where you are, they will leave and your new bff are not very interested in you once they get what they want.

They are now doing great work for the Coalition organizing contacts with every Dem Senator to let them know that we need to hear from them as some of them have been pretty silent.

Today's email is asking people to contact Feinstein and Boxer in Ca who have not been clear about where they stand. I tried calling several times today but could not get through. So they are hearing from those who put them in office finally.

Some Senators, like Bernie Sanders and Tom Harkin, are on the record as standing strong.1 But others, like Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, have yet to publicly commit to do right by Catherine and the majority of Americans who voted last month to protect our social safety net. So we're joining with progressive allies to get every single Senate Democrat on the record, and we'll make that information accessible to MoveOn members, the media, bloggers, and the public so that we can hold each Senator accountable.

Can you help get Sens. Feinstein and Boxer on the record by calling now and asking them:

"Do you commit to oppose any benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid?"

Here's where to call:

Senator Dianne Feinstein
Phone: [phone]

Senator Barbara Boxer
Phone: [phone]

Then, please report your calls by clicking here:

http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSCA_1.FSCA_2&cp_id=1852&id=59144-24457174-DPwsiDx&t=2

When you call, you'll be gathering important information on where Senate Democrats stand, and we'll use that knowledge to prepare a public scorecard of who's a champion for working families, who's wavering, and who's just plain weak-kneed. Then we'll focus our grassroots pressure on wavering Senators to build a bulwark in the Senate against any demands to cut benefits.

No more Mr. Nice Guy for Liberals. Dems either stand up for the people or they don't. And it's time for them to join Sanders and Harkin and now Durbin and tell the Republicans their ideas are not what the public wants.

[JDPriestly]

17. Bookmarking for the phone numbers.

[freshwest]

9. The GOP media is doing its job, trying to freak people out. Obama is just going through the motions.

He's already said he's done negotiating with himself, so the media is doing the GOP part of negotation by inflaming public fears.

What I wish Obama could do, although he can't do it because it would be improper, is to declare Christmas early and go vacation in Hawaii until the Inauguration.

By the time he got back the Repukes would have shot themselves in the head. Hopefully the stains would be washed out of the carpet by the time the next Congress is in session.

[indepat]

10. F'em all, the long, the short, and the

tall.

[Motown_Johnny]

11. It is posturing. Pres. Obama does not want to be seen as not trying

to solve the problem.

[freshwest]

12. Of course he'll be there doing the right thing. I'd like to think that in private he's:

[SoapBox]

13. Agreed.

[customerserviceguy]

14. Can't see an end to it

We're going off the cliff, all right, the only game both sides are playing now is, "It's all THEIR fault, I always talked like a reasonable person from Election Day to New Year's Day."

That guarantees plenty of drama, and the President is fighting with a guy who has proven to be a better crier than he is.

[Jack Sprat]

15. Exactly!

[Proud Liberal Dem]

16. Republicans can't keep to a deal

They agreed to the two-year extension of the Bush Tax Cuts in 2010 and demanded the debt deal in 2011 as the ransom for raising the debt ceiling. Boehner crowed that he got 98% of what he wanted. And yet now they are saying that the two deals are going to cause this country to go off of a "Fiscal Cliff" yet they are spinning their wheels trying to get Democrats to slit their throats on Medicare/Social Security by agreeing to cuts that don't even improve the deficit situation, just so that they can use those to run against us in 2014 and 2016. AND THEY ARE STILL SERIOUSLY TALKING ABOUT MAKING US GO THROUGH THIS ALL AGAIN NEXT YEAR OVER THE DEBT CEILING!!!!

[obxhead]

18. He could have said that 2 years ago.

He chose to bargain away social spending cuts today instead.

The tax rates should have expired, now they will expire and fuck us all with social spending cuts as well.

[BainsBane]

19. fuck all of us, especially the poorest

whose incomes will decline by 17% on Jan. 1.

[flying_wahini]

20. Ding, Ding Correcto - mundo Exactly what O should have said.

and with a flourish, (and his smile)
turn on his heel and walk away.

[davidpdx]

21. I agree totally

Fuck'em! You can't negotiate with terrorists.