Don’t make him choke somebody:
“They talked some happy talk about doing revenues, but we only have a couple weeks to get something done,” Reid said about Democrats’ negotiations with Republicans. “So we have to get away from the happy talk and start talking about specific things.”
Despite his tone of frustration, Reid also said he is optimistic that lawmakers ultimately will reach a deal to avoid plunging off the fiscal cliff, a convergence of an estimated $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts that threatens to trigger another recession.
“I’m extremely hopeful, and I do not believe that the Republicans are going to allow us to go over the cliff,” Reid said.
Oh, I believe they would, but I also believe they’re reeling from their electoral crushing and trying to figure out hey, if the Teawads can’t help me get elected, why do I have to listen to them in the first place:
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has tapped Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) to help reach a deal to avoid the “fiscal cliff,” a senior GOP aide confirms to TPM. The elevated role puts the staunch conservative and recent vice presidential nominee in a tough predicament that carries important implications, both for his personal political future and, potentially, for relations between the White House and Congressional Republicans.
Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, is now at the center of fiscal cliff talks and involved in daily GOP leadership meetings, along with Ways & Means Chairman Dave Camp and Energy & Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, the aide said. That means that unlike previous hard-fought bipartisan deals, his fingerprints will be on the final outcome.
LOL. Shorter Boehner: You wanna be the future of the party? Then BE IT, asshole. I’m tired of your nonsense. Fuckin’ teaheads. They show up all WE IZ NOW IN CHARGE BITCHEZ and then don’t want to be caught holding the bag when the wet cat inside it claws its way out. Well GUESS WHAT, I’m outie. You fix this crap.
(An aside: Ryan’s not a “staunch conservative.” He’s a pissy little brat who has been dining out on having half-written a grade school report on the economy for the past however many months, and he doesn’t understand that absolutely everybody everywhere is fed up with his shit, won’t want to cut social security, and thinks the job creators can suck it.)
A.
Lol about Ryan. Sounds about right and of course the teaheads in Waukesha County just eat it up as if its some grand dissertation of importance.
Excuse me while I engrave your comments about Paul Ryan on a chunk of brass. 🙂
I read the TPM account of how desperately twisting in the wind Ryan is and I laughed like murder. What a delightful situation. My prediction: Paul has to take the job but spends the entire time “in the bathroom” for “just a minute” so he can be absent when all the votes are taken. This is so pricelessly like the moment that Joe Biden held him down and rammed his role in Bowles Simpson down his throat.
aimai
I *love* the new Harry Reid. Who knew that there was a bad ass under that mild mannered exterior?
If they really want to drown the govt in a bathtub, the cliff would cut fed agencies resulting in layoffs in those agencies.
Ryan has introduced a lot of alternative budgets. It doesn’t bother me so much that he’s tried a lot of trial balloons, but it DOES bother me that they are almost all reduce taxes on the rich and gut any social safety net.
In 2010, H.R. 4529 actually got repubs voting against him. But important in that it would reduce max tax rate to 25%; eliminate capital gains tax (so Romney gets to pay ZERO), etc. In previous years he’s tried introducing a value added tax (like sales tax, regressive – but rather complicated).
He also tried to replace Medicare with vouchers. If you liked death panels (and of course I’m talking about the image of something which never existed in the govt), what about the poor getting vouchers for $ X of medical care per year. If you cost more, you are poor and can’t pay for more, you are cut off. Straight economic death panel.
@Adrastos: Well, he was a boxer once. I guess not having to worry about running again makes him a little more reluctant to pull punches.
“I’m extremely hopeful, and I do not believe that the Republicans are going to allow us to go over the cliffwhich we manufactured solely as a way to scare people into giving up their popular and well-functioning safety net programs.” Reid said.
His typo, it is fixed.