BrownDuck wrote:
The dems wanted a tax increase for the top 1% and without spending cuts. They got exactly that. The dems won this round. Anything else is a figment of your self-delusional imagination.
The Democrats had been fighting to pass a bill cleanly making the tax cuts for everyone under $250k permanent so acting as though "we got the Democrats to make those taxes permanent!" is a coup is pretty funny but we all need our coping mechanisms.
The deal moved the ceiling up to $400/$450k instead of $250k which is a "win" in that it wasn't as bad as it could have been. On the other hand, Obama was previously negotiating a rate of 37% with Boehner but the Senate version set the rate at 39.6% instead which is an obvious loss for the GOP.
The real loss (Part A) is that the Democrats gained tax increases while giving up virtually nothing. When the next spending battle comes in a month or two, the Democrats will press for the GOP to compromise starting from nothing. GOP apologists who were saying "now the GOP will say 'You got yours so you have to give us this'" can't honestly be that naive.
Real loss (Part B) was the continued showing of Boehner as an inept and largely impotent Speaker. Failed to negotiate with Obama, tried to pull his "Plan B" stunt while blew up in his face, threw a little hissy fit and tried to shift blame onto the Senate Democrats only to have the Senate pass a bill that greatly benefited the Democrats and the House was forced to pass (breaking the Hastert Rule to put it on the floor) with a 2:1 ratio of Republicans siding against Boehner in the vote. He's still the odds-on favorite to win the gavel this week but there was nothing about this event that made him look like anything but a clown.
That's not even counting the cherry on top of the failure sundae: the Sandy Relief bill that was abandoned and Congress adjourned despite a clear majority of members voting "Aye" to stay in session. When Peter King says he's "done with the GOP" and hints at flipping parties (he won't), you've done a great job of making yourself look incompetent to everyone.
Edited, Jan 2nd 2013 11:16pm by Jophiel