My best guess has been no and I still don't see it. However, Greg Sargent-who's pretty credible on this and has not been an alarmist-suggests that if what has been leaked about yesterday's meeting between Boehner and the President is true, we are going over the cliff.
What has been claimed is that in yesterday's private meeting Boehner demanded that the tax cuts for the rich be made permanent:
"A Dem source familiar with the conversation confirmed to me that this is
correct. But the GOP leadership is denying it. A GOP leadership aide emails:
“Our goal, as Boehner has made clear repeatedly and publicly, is a framework for
comprehensive tax reform. (which would make that claim moot).”
"In other words, Boehner couldn’t have asked for the Bush tax cuts on the rich
to be made permanent, because tax reform later will likely impact both revenues
(via the closing of loopholes and deductions) and also tax rates."
"Asked about this, the Dem source reiterated that Boehner had indeed demanded
that the Bush tax cuts be made permanent. He even added that the offer had been
made on paper."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2012/12/12/did-boehner-ask-for-permanent-tax-cuts-for-rich/
I haven't thought we'd really go over the cliff because I can't imagine that Boehner would be that stupid. Maybe I've given him too much credit... However, it seems clear that this is a major political loser for him and the GOP.
We know that the public supports the President's approach-that was the most tangible issue of the campaign. Polls consistently have shown that the public sees the President as having a mandate to raise taxes on the rich and if there's no deal the GOP will get the blame.
http://diaryofarepublicanhater.blogspot.com/2012/12/boehner-is-just-running-out-clock.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DiaryOfARepublicanHater+%28Diary+of+a+Republican+Hater%29
However, this latest poll is a real eye opener. Even most Republicans now want the GOP to compromise on taxes:
"Fifty-nine percent of Republicans want GOP leaders in the House and Senate to compromise to reach a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll released Wednesday. In April, just 38 percent backed such a compromise."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/poll-nearly-60-percent-of-republicans-want-gop?ref=fpb
So even the argument that the GOP doesn't have to compromise because most of the House Republicans come from safe districts is now open to more question. If 6 in 10 Republicans want a compromise this suggests that maybe they're not so safe. Indeed, didn't Richard Mourdock and Todd Akin learn this November 6-that no matter how safe a Republican district you may be in doesn't make you untouchable?
Now even Jim Demint thinks there will be a deal:
"Outgoing Sen. Jim DeMint said Thursday President Obama will "get his wish" to raise taxes as part of a deal to avert the fiscal cliff.
"We're going to be raising taxes," DeMint told "CBS This Morning."
DeMint added that Obama's tax proposal is a "political trophy," not a "solution."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/demint-on-tax-hikes-in-fiscal-cliff-deal?ref=fpb
I have to think that Boehner is running out the clock. However if he doesn't then let's take a leap of the cliff. The GOP cannot win here. There's no way we can allow the country to continue to be held hostage to a Tea Party minority whether it's McConnell and friends filibustering everything in the Senate or the GOP taking America's fiscal future hostage.
It has to stop. What the GOP seems to be showing is that they didn't learn a thing on November 6. What it might mean is that the only way to have a functional government where things get done is to make sure we have a Democratic supermajority at every level of government-at the state level as well.
You would think this is the argument the GOP doesn't want to make but everything they're doing suggests that this is the only answer.
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