The Fiscal Cliff: Democrats Have the Advantage

       I use the very phrase, Fiscal Cliff, advisedly, I think all the alarmism about is much ado about nothing. But no question, the Democrats can afford to be sanguine this time.

      This is because, in retrospect, President Obama did a much better job during last year's debt ceiling showdown than was appreciated at the time. The terms of the final agreement clearly have enough sticks for the Republican side that they're getting very nervous.

       They were so worried that, to use the words of Sarah Palin, "Palling around with terrorists" or at least Dick Cheney.

       Now, they're so worried that they are talking about doing all sorts of crazy things, even actually avoiding a government shutdown.

      "And in a sign that the politics of the upcoming round of spending are shifting, GOP leaders now have a key ally on their side: Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), the tea party leader who has been a frequent critic of his party’s budget dealings. DeMint, along with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), are urging House Speaker John Boehner to pass a short-term continuing resolution before the August recess to avoid a lame-duck session of Congress, believing Democrats could use the threat of a shutdown to force the GOP to cave on a host of policy issues."

     “I believe unless the Republicans in the House send us a [continuing resolution] that goes past the lame duck at the budget control levels, then we got a problem with leadership in the House,” DeMint told POLITICO. “In September, we’ve got three weeks before the government shuts down. And I’m tired being up here and they put our backs against the wall or the government will shut down. Republicans need to make clear that we don’t want anything to do with a government shutdown. We are going to fund the government at the Budget Control Act levels, even though I think they’re too high.”

     Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78638.html#ixzz210Xwv2PV

     As Patty Murray says:

      “Many Republicans are starting to realize something important: On Jan. 1, if we haven’t gotten to a deal, Grover Norquist and his pledge are no longer relevant to this conversation,” Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, said this week in a speech at the Brookings Institution. “We will have a new fiscal and political reality.”

      “This is all about leverage being on the side of the Democrats,” said Representative Peter Welch, Democrat of Vermont. “If Democrats want to use that leverage, we can’t blink.”

        http://www.cnbc.com/id/48224439

        Also, very importantly, the public supports the President and the Democrats:

        http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2012/07/most-americans-support-presidents-tax.html