> --A Senate Democratic aide emails: "While no one can predict how this drama will end, one thing seems apparent: the President has just about checkmated the Republicans. At this point, the GOP seems to have only four possible moves: (1) force a default, which both Mitch McConnell and the Wall Street Journal editorial page are openly warning would be a political disaster for Republicans that would ensure Obama's reelection; (2) accept revenues in a final deal, as even Bill O'Reilly is now saying they should do; (3) accept a smaller package of cuts that doesn't meet Speaker Boehner's 'dollar-for-dollar' requirement; or (4) settle for a version of McConnell's 'punt' plan, which, after all this, would not mandate any spending cuts whatsoever. Needless to say, none of these are winning scenarios for Republicans."
They're checkmating themselves. They had an offer on the table of $2 trillion in cuts - to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security - all of which would have Obama's fingerprints all over it. All they had to do was accept a revenue-neutral tax package (i.e. closing some deductions, offset by an AMT fix). But the GOP freshmen who were extreme enough to lever the party into this favorable bargaining position then proved to be so extreme that they couldn't take yes for an answer.
SA