So who won tonite? It makes me ill to agree with this oped from WaPo....

[jillan]

House Speaker John Boehner likes to lament that his party controls just “one-half of one-third of the government.
But whether by design or necessity, Boehner managed to make the most of that limited leverage — both in forcing President Obama and the Democrats to come more than halfway on his party’s demand for spending cuts, and in making the absolutists in his own ranks accept the principle that compromise is part of governing.

The final sticking point — a dispute over whether Republicans would prevail in their demand to include a provision ending federal funds for Planned Parenthood — underscored both the weakness and the strength of Boehner’s position.

On one hand, it allowed Democrats to make the argument that Republicans were using the must-pass spending bill to ram through less popular parts of their conservative agenda. On the other, the abortion issue and other extraneous “riders” added to the bill gave Boehner a stack of bargaining chips that he could trade at the last minute for further spending reductions.

Having worked for days on the assumption that everyone was aiming for $33 billion in cuts, for instance, the Democratic negotiators were startled when Boehner indicated Tuesday that he was holding out for as much as $40 billion.

You can read the rest here...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/boehners-leadership-is-tested-in-the-budget-battle/2011/04/08/AFF0lP4C_story.html?hpid=z2

I think Obama, Biden and Reid were Bonered this week in more ways than one.

:popcorn: I think I'll enjoy some popcorn before this thread gets locked...

[Lasher]

1. Obama didn't have any bargaining chips.

He likes to give all those away before negotiations start.

[jillan]

2. That's another bad habit he needs to break.

[Marr]

16. It's not a bad habit, it's a tactic.

It's how he pushes a corporate, big money agenda on a constituency that doesn't want it or support it.

[truedelphi]

19. Bingo.

But many people are not smart enough to decipher that part of the reality.

[Raine]

20. Exactly! nt

[global1]

3. And If You Go Lurking In Freeperville - The Freeps Are Upset With Boner.....

and believe he caved.

So if we're upset here at DU and they are upset at Freeperville - what does that mean?

[Raine]

13. We've all been taken for a ride and the "drivers"

went exactly the direction they intended to go all along.

[ixion]

23. exactly... as it always is

they make a big show about doing one thing or another, with the true intent being to go the way the puppet masters tell them to go.

[Marr]

17. It doesn't mean the deal is balanced, if that's what you're implying.

The far-right Teabagger crowd didn't want an ounce of compromise. They didn't really even want to a 100% victory, in my humble opinion. They wanted a government shut-down. So of course they're angry. They don't exactly have a record of being in touch in with reality, either, so their opinion really signifies nothing.

[Raine]

21. No of course it's not balanced

it didn't even start out balanced to begin with. These things never are.

[ProSense]

4. Well,

<...>

The final sticking point — a dispute over whether Republicans would prevail in their demand to include a provision ending federal funds for Planned Parenthood — underscored both the weakness and the strength of Boehner’s position.

On one hand, it allowed Democrats to make the argument that Republicans were using the must-pass spending bill to ram through less popular parts of their conservative agenda. On the other, the abortion issue and other extraneous “riders” added to the bill gave Boehner a stack of bargaining chips that he could trade at the last minute for further spending reductions.

<...>

Having worked for days on the assumption that everyone was aiming for $33 billion in cuts, for instance, the Democratic negotiators were startled when Boehner indicated Tuesday that he was holding out for as much as $40 billion.

<...>

Boehner might have sown some of this confusion deliberately, to keep Democrats — and some of his own colleagues — off balance.

<...>

Boehner is both weak and strong. He got nothing and something. His confusion was strategically brilliant. He averted a shutdown and pissed off the teabaggers, but that was his plan all along!

[Hannah Bell]

8. "the teabaggers" are nothing. they don't matter. they're just a bloody flag the pubs can wave.

and a scarecrow for the dems to use.

the teabaggers have the same function for the right that the "far-left" does for the left; they can be held up to scare the other side, or to justify some stray policy change -- but in the end -- where are they going to go?

[jillan]

10. Actually this article goes on to say how the freshman repugs rallied around Boner in the end.

[ProSense]

11. The teabaggers

are the Republicans.

To underscore his view that the spending bill was only a starting point for his agenda, Boehner also refused to delay the introduction of Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s fiscal 2012 budget, despite some concerns among Republicans that it would get caught in the politics surrounding the shutdown.

Do you think there is any daylight between Bachmann, Boehner, Paul and Ryan?

[Hannah Bell]

14. um, no, they're not.

[ProSense]

15. When they're

driving the GOP agenda, yes they are.

[Hannah Bell]

24. um, "they" aren't driving the agenda. their funders are. their funders are also the funders

of some of the gop politicians -- and some of the dems.

but that doesn't mean that teabaggers & republicans are coextensive.

[TomCADem]

5. Corporate Narrative - Once Again Blaming Democrats and Giving Republicans A Free Pass

Cue the posts from "liberals" expressing admiration of right wing Republicans and the Tea Party. Is it real admiration or just sock puppetry?


Blame Democrats. Give Republicans a free pass. Ignore that the Democrats protected the EPA, Planned Parenthood, and Health Care Reform.

For that matter ignore the end of DADT, the stimulus, the passage of financial reform, the record growth in the development of renewable energy sources like Solar, and the saving of the U.S. auto industry.

The sock puppetry is just laughable.

[jillan]

9. The democrats did NOT protect the EPA, PP and HCR - they only took it out of this bill...

All of the riders will be voted on within the next couple of weeks. I don't know if it was Ezra Klein or Fineman was explaining that tonite on msnbc.

Yes, there were good things that happened during the last 2 years, but tonite was not one of them. What did Dems win tonite?

[TomCADem]

12. What did you expect Democrats to "win" tonight? You don't like it? Don't let Republicans...

...win congressional seats.

Ezra Klein draws a comparison to Bill Clinton, but he had the luxury of going through a government shut down when the economy was not nearly as fragile as it is now. If we had a three week shut down holding out for no cuts whatsoever, how do you think that would end?

The economy would have gone south, and do you think that voters would have been understanding in the 2012 elections?

[leftstreet]

6. The Republicans deserve their "win" on the fiscal responsibility meme

They've pushed it hard for years and they ALWAYS make it sound good

Not once have Democrats grabbed the narrative and helped cement in the M$M what more and more Americans are coming to believe: It'd be more fiscally responsible to provide healthcare for Americans than bombs for the military.

[DeSwiss]

7. Maybe this is what a ‘Squirmish’ looks like. - K&R n/t

[ProfessionalLeftist]

18. The 1% as per usual. The rest of us are screwed. n/t

[cutlassmama]

22. As per usual they got what they wanted on the backs of everyone else.