Let the GOP- Third Party Time as the GOP will become a by-gone.

Our goobermint needs to get over the spending addiction. That´s the real problem.

It´s insane to think these tax increases will be used on deficit reduction. Obama will have the new money spent on foolishness before the ink is dried on the deal.

The left know their own voters the best and they have to have a manufactured boogeyman to activate their base. Bush is fading as a villain,so they need to move on to the rich.
The GOP wants it both ways by stopping tax rate increases but raising revenues from other sources.They know they´re going to face a flood of pressure from the media and left wing nag groups.

Not only will the GOP cave on taxes, they´ll put a new tax on caves!

Should?!! They will without question. It will give them an issue to run on in 2014 and 2016 by saying that they will promise to cut taxes. It is how the game is played.

Is the Pope Catholic? Should is not the word, when is the word.

There is only one way to reduce the deficit at this point.... And the politicians know it. INFLATION. It´s the only way to prevent the coming increase in interest rates from bankrupting the country while allowing the politicians some sort of distance from culpability.

Inflation ( hyperinflation?) will diminish the debt and allow politicians to point to someone else for the blame. The suffering many of us will endur will cause even more dependency upon government and serve the political purposes of the liberal agenda.

Maybe they should ask President Hoover how that worked out for the country.

#3 absolutely nails the issue. Every penny the GOP puts on the table, either rate increase or elimination of deductions will be spent to feather nests of special interests and create more dependence for future ´Rat candidates to use.
Not a penny more to feed the entitlement monster under any circumstances. Come hell or high water.

I have the same concers as others that spending will not be cut; maybe projected spending five or more years out will be projected to be cut, but that will never materialize.

The issue is spending, not revenue. The government´s revenue from 2011 is enough to cover the government´s outlays in 2005. I think that we could easily survive if the government cut their spending back to the 2005 level.

We´ve already fallen (over the fiscal cliff) and can´t get up.

Tax inreases would be perfectly rational and called for if they were matched wuth reliable reductions and controls on future government spending. Immigration reform, including generous amnesty for current illegal aliens, would be equally rational and appropriate if serious border control and enforcement were guaranteed.

We know, of course, that no such control of spending or the nation´s borders is part of the radical Democrat agenda. Regardless of what they might say -and as far as I know they have yet to make any serious proposals on these matters- their record suggests they cannot be trusted to keep any promises they might make.

The writing is on the wall. We are going to get higher taxes and more, not less government spending. And any immigration reform will certainly fail to include serious border control while proposing amnesty for current and future illegal aliens.

I am not among those who believe the Democrats are deliberately trying to ruin the country, thought I can appreciate why it seems that way to others. It actually makes no difference WHY they are pursuing the policies they are, since the consequences will be the same whatver the motives.

Nor do I subscribe to the racist, sexist, ageist, bigoted theory that the fundamental problem is demographics. The fundamental problem is ignorance, a great part of it resulting from systematic indoctrination of children in school and university. Unless education is reformed, America, the goose that laid the golden egg, the republic that provided so much for so many for so long, is cooked.

Do I care what the GOP does? We were told over and over that voting for other than GOP is throwing away your vote. I voted GOP and guess what? I threw away my vote.

From now on, I vote who I want to vote for. I´m voting Libertarian. That way when the country implodes I can tell you all I told you so.

The point is not where or how the money will be spent. We already know that. The point is a few bucks out of very wealthy peoples pockets is being used as a club to pound the republicans into the ground. It is used as the quintessential proof of the argument the pubbies are the party of the rich fat cats. They should have gotten elected first, then dealt with this issue properly. Now they will just continue to be scapegoats.

It doesn´t matter what the House Republicans do. They will get the blame for everything that is going to go wrong, anyhow. As for the Senate Republicans, they will get even more of the blame, since the Senate is controlled by Democrats, and it will be necessary to cover for them.

The question is why will the dems not cave on spending cuts?

What they should do is NOT sign pledges. And, they should marginalize islamophilic moles named Grover Norquist.

No!

First cut spending.

I mean really cut spending.

Close down whole agencies.

Cut government remaining bureaucrats payroll by 50%.

Put Marxist democrats calling themselves progressives, liberals, out of government permanently.

It´s the only way to save free America.

#14, I think that is the correct way. The GOP has become spineless, limp-wristed wannabes. They wannabe in power, they wanna tell others how to live their lives, but the do not have the cajones to stand up to the steamroller Democrats with øbama at the controls. I will not vote GOP in the future.

Apparently, at least 50% of the voting population wants a party in power who will give them "free stuff".

If the R´s oppose that (and therefore increased spending) they will never win a presidential campaign again.

There is a new paradigm. The day of conservative politics is over, IMHO.

Not if they want to prevent the rise of a third party.

The Republican Party, along with our republic, died on 11-6-2012.

I say we go out with a bang, shove this thing over the cliff, and let the dictator and his politburo deal with it.

We are reamed one way or the other. Let´s just hope NØbamacare provides free Vaseline for all the times we will be told to ´´just bend over and take it for the good of the country´´ over the next few years...

I say let the Dems have their way. Let all the Bush tax rates expire for everyone, not just the wealthy.