Tuesday Open Thread [1.8.13]

Filed in Open Thread by on January 8, 2013

Boehner caves already, admitting that the House Republicans’ threat not to raise the nation’s debt ceiling in budget negotiations with President Obama is an empty one.

“Boehner does this by threatening to only agree to ‘monthly’ debt ceiling hikes. But this should be read, if anything, as a sign of weakness. It’s essentially a concession that the debt limit has to be raised; Boehner is merely threatening to drag his feet as he allows the inevitable to happen. But it’s just nonsense. The business community is not going to go for such a course of action, to put it mildly. And it risks dragging the country through monthly threats of default, a terrible thing to inflict on the American people.”

“Ultimately, what this highlights is the utter incoherence of the GOP position on the debt ceiling. Republican leaders know they have to raise the debt limit — they know the threat not to do this isn’t credible, and they need to signal to the business community that they don’t view this option seriously — yet they want to continue to use it as leverage to get what they want, anyway.”

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll finds 52% of Republican voters disapprove of the way House Speaker John Boehner handled the fiscal cliff negotiations, a 15-percentage point jump from December when the talks were ongoing. Among the most conservative Republican and independent voters, disapproval of Boehner spiked from 36% to 61%.

Meanwhile

The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Jan. 3-6 among 1,003 adults, finds that 57% say that Obama got more of what he wanted from the tax legislation while just 20% say Republican leaders got more of what they wanted. And while 48% approve of the way Obama handled the fiscal cliff negotiations only 19% approve of the way GOP leaders handled the negotiations.

Republicans take a particularly sour view of the outcome: just 16% approve of the final legislation, and by a 74% to 11% margin they think Obama got more of what he wanted. Only 40% of Republicans approve of how their party’s leaders handled the negotiations; by comparison, fully 81% of Democrats approve of how Obama handled the negotiations.

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  1. Jason330 says:

    Only 40% of Republicans realize that they don’t make $1 million a year. Put down the crack pipe Republicans.

  2. anonymous says:

    Even republicans don’t believe what they try to pass off as “reality.” Instead they try to determine ‘your reality,’ by feeding the public – lies – lies they think will be to ‘their’ advantage.

    Republicans don’t really doesn’t believe God made the earth for man to destroy (Santorum.) That their wives are their sole partners (Gingrich,) population control is unnecessary (Rush;) they are the party of religious and family values, (add embarrassing republican list here.) Or that climate change ever was a hoax (Ohofe;) that there is legitimate rape (Akin.) Republicans shouldn’t have to pay for ‘disaster’ damages,(per republican house of Reps.) All over-development is good; tea party members are great Americans; the ice cap aren’t melting, guns don’t kill. More fossil fuel dependency means a bright economic future,(instead of the truth – no future.)

    Republicans live in a make believe ‘I built it’ world of self interest, built on warped prejudice, smoldering fossil fuel profits, unconscionable corporate funding, lying denials, trumped up fears, promises of a false economy and stacks of redacted documents.

    What republicans did build, is the deadliest atmosphere of lies ever to circle the planet.

    There are hopefully, a few years time to change from spewing lies to facing the truth.

    The people have chosen Obama to face reality, instead of his opponent, who couldn’t stop lying. Time for republicans to sit down, shut up and pay up for the damages they caused.

    A brief outline of republican {Reality.}

    Exhibit A

    http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=global_warming_tmln&global_warming_tmln_general_topic_areas=global_warming_tmln_industry

    Exhibit B

    http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=global_warming_tmln&global_warming_tmln_general_topic_areas=global_warming_tmln_politicization

  3. cassandra_m says:

    So this is choice: AIG considering joining a lawsuit against the Federal government alleging the terms of the bailout deal were unfair.

    Now, if AIG were somehow in a position to bail YOU out, you’d have to sign an agreement giving up your rights to sue and to submit any disagreements to arbitration using the arbitration group of AIG’s choice and you’d have to agree to what the arbitrator decides, No Takebacks. And they’d likely make you give up any rights to lobbying the government while you are in bailout status. Right?

  4. bamboozer says:

    Distracting and depressing for the Republicans reality shines thru on occasion, that and Karl Rove types saying “we got our ass handed to us the last time you tried this”.