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.