So we hit the debt limit...

[DGuller]

Its funny because back in the day the critics said his imagination was too vivid.

The standards were different back in the day, Republicans didn't live in imaginary world 24/7 back then.

[Razgovory]

I eagerly await your tears when President Bachman forgets all about the deficit.

Nobody can forget about the deficit any longer.  We've passed the point where it conveniently can be ignored.

I bet people said that after the first Bush administration.

Yeah, but only goofball Perot voters.

I seriously think the deficit and debt are going to be unignorable by whomever the President and majority parties are until they are decisively dealt with.  "Deficits don't matter" (misguided a statement as it was) may well have been the political reality of 10 years ago, but that era has passed.

Perot voters and Tea Party types seem to be the same types.  It was a political reality because a Republican was President.  If Obama loses in 2012 it'll be a political reality again and the true budget hawks will have to gnash their teeth for another four years.  Unless of course Congress fucks things up in with the debt ceiling thing.  Then God knows what'll happen.

[DGuller]

Here is something I don't understand.  It's obvious that the final solution has to have both Democrats and Republicans on board, to some degree.  Compromise is inevitable if this is to go anywhere, one way or the other.  It's also obvious that freshman teabaggers are never going to be reasonable, and will never agree to measures that Democrats find palatable. 

Why aren't Democrats and less insane Republicans starting to talk?  Why not cut out the idiot teabaggers altogether?  Teabaggers only have veto as long as other Republicans don't move against them, but aren't they doomed to go against them anyway?

[MadImmortalMan]

Here is something I don't understand.  It's obvious that the final solution has to have both Democrats and Republicans on board, to some degree.  Compromise is inevitable if this is to go anywhere, one way or the other.  It's also obvious that freshman teabaggers are never going to be reasonable, and will never agree to measures that Democrats find palatable. 

Why aren't Democrats and less insane Republicans starting to talk?  Why not cut out the idiot teabaggers altogether?  Teabaggers only have veto as long as other Republicans don't move against them, but aren't they doomed to go against them anyway?

That's what the Obama-Boehner talks were supposed to be. Excluding the fringes of both sides. Now it's the Boehner-gang of six talks. Same thing. The TP and the "volcanic" Dems (as Barbara Mikulski put it) aren't plugged in seriously is the sense I get.

[Razgovory]

I wonder what percentage of the Republican caucus is Tea Party and unreliable.  Boehner can't get his own people on board for votes, it doesn't help that his own whip has stabbed him in the back and seems to be trying to usurp his position.  No matter who has the majority in the House after 2012, I doubt Boehner will be speaker.

[MadImmortalMan]

I wonder what percentage of the Republican caucus is Tea Party and unreliable.  Boehner can't get his own people on board for votes, it doesn't help that his own whip has stabbed him in the back and seems to be trying to usurp his position.  No matter who has the majority in the House after 2012, I doubt Boehner will be speaker.

Well, there are 23 dissenters against the Boehner Plan this evening. That's your hardcore anti-debters.

[Razgovory]

I wonder what percentage of the Republican caucus is Tea Party and unreliable.  Boehner can't get his own people on board for votes, it doesn't help that his own whip has stabbed him in the back and seems to be trying to usurp his position.  No matter who has the majority in the House after 2012, I doubt Boehner will be speaker.

Well, there are 23 dissenters against the Boehner Plan this evening. That's your hardcore anti-debters.

I figured it would be more then that.  There are 60 people in the Tea Party Caucus.  A lot of them want the budget to be balanced immediately.

[MadImmortalMan]

I figured it would be more then that.  There are 60 people in the Tea Party Caucus.  A lot of them want the budget to be balanced immediately.

Yes, I was surprised too. It's a bit encouraging.

[Brazen]

I can't be arsed to read back through 51 pages to see if anyone's posted this before, but this is fascinating:

Visualisation of the US debt
http://www.wtfnoway.com/

[Ed Anger]

I figured it would be more then that.  There are 60 people in the Tea Party Caucus.  A lot of them want the budget to be balanced immediately.

Yes, I was surprised too. It's a bit encouraging.

They have been having meetings to try to scare the living shit out of them if there is a default.

[Ed Anger]

And speaking of punishing naughty Republicans, Ohio republicans are talking about redistricting Jim Jordan's seat because he has been a total asshole to Speaker Boehner during the debt thingy. 

[crazy canuck]

And speaking of punishing naughty Republicans, Ohio republicans are talking about redistricting Jim Jordan's seat because he has been a total asshole to Speaker Boehner during the debt thingy. 

Ah the American system at its best.  If you dont play ball we will stop manipulating the electoral boundaries in your favour.

[The Minsky Moment]

Why aren't Democrats and less insane Republicans starting to talk? 

Modest proposal: house democrats should back the Boehner plan.  It is pretty damn close to Reid's plan in the Senate and if the House dems made a show of good faith by backing the Speaker, some of the differences could be compromised in conference.

Problem is time has probably run for that.

[Drakken]

Doesn't Congress have procedural rules to fasttrack such a vote, for example by imposing a gag motion or 24-hour long extraordinary sessions?

[derspiess]

Why aren't Democrats and less insane Republicans starting to talk? 

Modest proposal: house democrats should back the Boehner plan.  It is pretty damn close to Reid's plan in the Senate and if the House dems made a show of good faith by backing the Speaker, some of the differences could be compromised in conference.

Problem is time has probably run for that.

From what I'm reading now, 8/2 may not be as hard a deadline as we once thought.  I'm pretty sure we'll avoid a debt default, but I don't see how we're going to maintain our AAA rating under any plan that is likely to make it through both houses & get signed into law.