The nation is at a crossroads. You reach a point where some very difficult decisions must be made. There will be winners and losers. There is no "diplomatic solution" that will make it appear that everyone is a winner or loser. The welfare state is imploding. We can't afford it. The Dems want to keep it alive by increasing taxes and mortgaging our future to the point that the country goes into the toliet consumed by welfare programs. It is time to fish or cut bait for the GOP. You either believe in your principles and rhetoric or you don't.
You said “You either believe in your principles and rhetoric or you don’t.”
Yes, but you don’t stage a fake grandstand just for yourself either, and that looks like what both parties are doing. Grandstanding never gets the results you are grandstanding for.
Better to look at least a little “gracious” by getting your way (as in spending cuts and less government) and then getting your way (as in conservative-directed tax reform) and then presenting it as though the other side looks like they got what they wanted (as in perceived generated tax income from that tax reform legislation the conservatives really wanted anyway).
Now, is THAT so bad? No. Does it make the Tea Party look they lost a little ground? Yes, probably because it would have taken the egg they want off the Democrats face. Would it be the right thing to do though?
That’s diplomacy, and that didn’t give an inch on principles at all, I think.