I am not sure of the end game here either. The deadline comes polling shows it will be the republicans fault. It hurts defense. And the other cuts are not enough to scare Dems because no entitlements will be touched and taxes go up on everyone.
Is it make the best deal you can and live to fight another day? We obstructed him for 4 years and all we got was another 4 years. I think you could get a more balanced approach sooner rather than later. The longer it goes the less the Dems will feel the need to deal. I could be wrong though.
Yes, are told we only have two options:
Option 1: (lose) Repeat the past mistakes, claim it is principle, get crushed (polls, angry phone calls, emails), surrender and in the end give O what he demands in a secret vote, then blame the media, lots of whining, then get beat in the general election.
In fact if you recall the final FICA extension (total cave) last year was passed by the R House quietly almost in secret .
Option 2 (surrender): Give Obama pretty much what he wants, then have Republicans primaried out of their seats for surrender, have half the new ones lose(O's hope anyway), then be completely demoralized, and decide there is no hope. (Wasnt this just 3 weeks ago?)
These are both disasters and they are exactly what Obama is trying to get.
That is why I suuggest a new idea, fight to WIN not to LOSE.
First thing they need to do is pass those so called middle class CUTS in the house, everyones income under $250K, or hell, even 500K might work. And send that to the Senate and on ALL the TV shows repeat : “ crisis-over, we protected the middle class. WE CUT TAXES. OK, Mr President. What do you need from us? Lets play negotiate”
And dont negotiate with Dems. Obama negotiates with voters, Republicans negotiate with Obama. Guess which one works? (there is another reason why this is so, can you guess what it is?)
If Republicans are taking the position that those middle class tax cuts cannot be extended unless they get O and Reid to sign onto those tax cuts the amounts over those above($250K/$500K) , and entitlement cuts, we all know how that will play out. No need to act shocked.
Look, if Bohner REALLY beats O at this then I will be the first here to admit I was wrong. But I havent seen anyone here who claims that they think that it will happen. That is the most amazing part. It's like "Please lose again"