Well, if you´ve lost Lindsey Graham...

"WE" Kemosabe? I´m betting all the kings´ men and all the kings´ horses will land softly enough. In fact there was some extra feathering going on just this week as King Obie passed around some sorely needed raises to his own. But hey, fellas, thanks for lookin´ out for us little people. We know you´ve had our best in mind.

What would we do in a crisis without Lindsey to pontificate about it?

I heard Lindsey around noon and was simply aghast at his ignorance. Apparently someone capable of thought explained it to him. As a nation we are broke. We need to quit spending. We can´t afford to pay people not to work for 2 years. That 30 billion is two thirds of the tax increases on the rich. The 60 billion Sandy aid is one and a half years of taxes on the rich.

You can´t find common ground because there is none.

Four clueless posts here. Graham has been pretty strong. It probably did look as though the President would pull it off. Haven´t we all worried that he would? If Lindsey thinks he was wrong, so what does that prove? I think we should go over the cliff rather than let the President use the money for new spending, which is what the Republicans are trying to prevent. Get yourselves on the right side and stop harrassing our own people.

These people are simply creating drama so whatever crummy deal is reached,people will breath a sigh of relief.

Taxing people´s estates is something I´ll never get,they already paid taxes on the accumulated tax and this kills farmers.A farmer´s land could be worth millions on paper but they´re otherwise cash poor.Having to sell their land to cover a dead relative is ludicrous. You can bet Ted Kennedy didn´t pay a dime in estate taxes.

@7 IIRC, Miss Lindsey wouldn´t be in her seat after the last election if GWB hadn´t intervened.

Care to explain #9 how GWB got Graham elected? I don´t agree with Lindsey about 30% of the time but he isn´t stupid and he will be reelected should he choose to run. No one who is any good will run against him, he has a lot of money, and his seniority becomes more valuable by the day.

This government reflects the state of the nation quite well... Two quite different and quite irreconcilable approaches to our current fiscal predicament. At the head of this government is the unLeader, above it all, oblivious to his own incompetence, and haughtily lecturing anyone foolish enough to listen and believe he has the nation´s best interest in mind.

"Crisis" number 9467201 for the Zippy Administration.

Hey, how can you stampede the rubes without a "crisis?"

#9 When you resort to name calling ............ well do I have to spellit out?

This whole argument is a farce. We are going over the cliff sooner or later. That is a certainy. This tax hike wasn´t going to stop it. Obama already had the money spent. I think the generation that caused this mess ought to be the one to pay for it.

L.Com is not an ordinary website and doesn´t deserve to be peppered with name-calling and ad hominem attacks on each other. It lowers us to the level of liberals. We´re better than that, so can we please mature the tenor of this discussion just a tad and have a serious discussion?

Lindsey Graham has his opinion as do many other Senators. He´s got no more inside information than most. I say let´s go over the cliff because even though we haven´t yet done so, we already being blamed for it. So let the chips fall where they may.

#5, you´re right and that is really the crux of the matter. At their very foundations, the GOP and the Democrat Party have nothing in common. Both parties have drifted away from any hope of compromise because one Party wants socialism and the other wants free-market capitalism. How do you find common ground between those two worldviews, especially when Democrats want to cut the military, confiscate guns (ultimately), raise everyone´s taxes and establish a dictatorship?

The GOP would be wise to refuse to compromise and let Obama´s disastrous last four years play out into the next four years. Eventually, without GOP fingerprints, the public will realize how wrong they were to put their faith in this shallow little man. Twice.

But there IS common ground! It´s the one zooming up toward us as we drift oh-so-numbly, and upon which we´ll all go SPLAT in a few hours.

Happy New Year! And enjoy floating.

(Guess I´ll be ´grocery shopping´ at the year´s supply of emergency food I bought knowing Obama would do this to us sooner or later. But hey - I´ll probably lose weight, and get healthier! Goal is the 60+ grandma-warrior irregulars.)

Not everyone in this generation caused this mess. Power hungry greed is not inherent in any one generation. We are at this crisis because it has been building for decades driven by people who think they know better than everyone else and want ultimate control of people´s lives. We have seen it rise to power and fail in Europe and now it is here on our doorstep. It did not end well for those who would not stop it and it will not end well here. Much more than money is on the line. Our very freedom is at stake and Americans at any age should recognize that.

I think he´s right. I´m making personal plans for the "event"....

I don´t think the republicans could have won....

Let obama take the blame -- where -- BTW -- it belongs....

LZK

The fact that there is no common ground in this crisis is a good thing. Obama and his greedy horde spent us into oblivion and the democrats own the disaster. The fiscal cliff illusion is simply an attempt to attach blame to the republicans. If they deserve any blame it´s because they did not resist the wasteful and shameful vote buying that obama wasted our entire treasury on.

Concerning the present generation paying for its own excesses, that goes against the entire SOP of the democrats. If the entitled people had to pay for what they got, they wouldn´t get it and democrats would not get elected. Far better to let the unknown future generation clean up the mess.

Will South Carolina PLEASE stop electing this head case?

Thank you #6! Very well said. I don´t always agree with Lindsey Graham, but let´s give our guys some support when they try to do the right thing. Graham has held strong on this issue and he is entitled to speak his mind. Geez!

Women!! Always changing their minds. Has there ever been a Hurricane named Lindsey?

Those throwing stones at Senator Graham are greatly appreciated by Obama’s team. They send their regards and thanks. Good work.

The cliff is not there because we have failed to give Obama enough taxes; it’s there because he (and GWB) spent too much. The government beast must go on a diet.

Let´s go off the cliff, then. The first victims will be the 2.1 million unemployed "99ers" who take Obama´s long-term unemployment money (instead of working). Their Obama checks will get cut off first. Let them go run and cry and scream to their liberal paymasters in the Senate (Reid, Patty Murray, Boxer, and all those new liberal senators from Indiana, North Dakota and every other "conservative" red state that showed idiocy in the last election). Let them howl and squeal. The liberal fasco-wienies will be back to bargain.

Remember, if you make an uncalled for comment about a Senator who normally sides with Senator McCain, and the ´give all illegal´s a pardon group´ you... wait a minute, he is an idiot after all.

Did you create this problem?
Did you spend like a drunken sailor and spend and spend and spend?
Did you ignore all signs of fiscal calamity?
Did you tell the voters they don´t understand?

Again ... did you LDOTTER create this problem which will crush you?

NO

Like others here, let´s all stop the infighting and concentrate on the topic at hand.

When you think about all of the repercussions, you will come to understand that no matter what the Republicans do or what happens, they, the Pubbies, are going to be blamed for it. I can hear Obozo and the MSM saying now, that if they were just given what they wanted, everything would be just fine. The Dims will never take responsibility for anything. Remember, the Dims of today are NOT the Dims of yesteryear. Back then, some of them actually had the nation´s needs at heart. Today, they are no more than socialists/Marxists that what one party rule (not govern) and have their man/woman elected as president for life, if they ever hold elections.

Irony is, the Dems may have overreached and miscalculated. We´ve all assumed (you know what that word means) that the cliff will play to NerØbama´s benefit. That, IMO, is a head fake. It´s only to his benefit to drive a wedge between conservatives. 2014 and the debt ceiling are his real targets.

Pain on everyone at this point will hurt the Dems more than the Pubs. Conservatives plan ahead, and will survive the "hit". Obama´s drones are the ones who will be hurt the most. Plus, as Trump is pointing out, the Pubs have the leverage once we go over. They will have already taken NerØbama´s best shot, and will still be standing to get some real spending cuts - now - if there is to be any increase in the debt ceiling. Otherwise, the debt ceiling will take care of things by itself. Worried about the 2014 election? That´s a political eternity away.

Lindsey Graham kept praising obama for standing his ground and congratulated him repeatedly. Lindsey Graham is a democrat masquerading as a rino.

I watched Graham in his "come together moment" with Feinstein on Fox Sunday. It gave me a sinking feeling to hear that he thought that there was deal coming. As Lindsay said, "Hats off to the president. He won." And, he reminded us that he was once one of a Gang of 14 that hijacked the Senate when Republicans had finally gained control. I guess he wished he could go back to those heady days when the McCain party would just step in and decide for us.

These clowns that want to make a deal deserve neither our respect or support. In today´s vernacular, "they all suck". They have betrayed the American people in order to feather their own nest, and they don´t do math.

There was a post a couple of days ago that put it all into perspective: Knock 8 zeros off, and you will see that we "make" (tax revenue) $22,000 a year, spend $38,000, and have a credit card debt of $160,000. Now, these geniuses (the dems and "he won republicans") are going to swoop in and save the day by taxing the rich who make over $250k a year. In the scenario above, that´ll raise 8 days of funding, or about $240 bucks. They "promise" that they are going to "cut" another 1 trillion in the next 10 years, or about $1,000 per year when you knock the zeroes off. Feel better now?

Just take us over the rhetorical "cliff", and get it over with. The sooner the inevitable misery sets in, the better off we´ll be.

How does this get so much camera time? What makes him more knowledgeable about matters than any other senator or congressman.

Me thinks he is in love with the camera and himself - kind of like the black guy just down the street.

#7 pegged it. Lindsay has zero role here. Rep senators might as well stay home--this is between BO and the House. Reid, Graham, et al have zero influence on this outcome. If any Senator gets invited to a meeting, it´s just out of politeness.

The juvenile name calling by the right against our side
is tiresome.
People like Limbaugh and Levin promote and encourage this type of unhelpful and childish behavior.
It only helps the Democrats.
The left rarely devours their own like the right consistently does.
Graham has an odd way of speaking-his phraseology is sometimes hard to understand
and he often seems to contradict himself in the same sentence.
It´s like some type of verbal dyslexia.
I saw Graham on FOX yesterday and his statement about Obama seemed more like a combatant acknowledging the success of an opponent.
Obama won.
Senate Democrats have increased their number by 2 for the next session to 55 ( 53 Dems, plus 2 Indys who side with Dems ) to 45 Republicans.
Republicans in the House lost 8 seats for the next session.
I pity Boehner and McConnell , they are trying to accomplish the unattainable.
Trying to find common ground ( which is impossible )
with Reid and Pelosi
and Obama while ducking rotten tomatoes and brickbats from the right.
Their strategic options are very limited and unlike, Obama ,
Reid and Pelosi, they are trying
to do the best they can for Americans.

Thank you poster #30 for confirming for me what my eyes saw yesterday on Fox News Sunday. By the end of their segment Ms Lindsey was ready to skip down the yellow brick road with his best buddy Diane Feinstein. It was sickening.

Amen to #6, #15.

When Senator Lindsey Graham is right...he shoots it out of the park.

By avoiding an interrogation by him, Hillary is probably saying, "lucky, lucky,lucky subdural hematoma for me". Luckier than overlooking billable hour receipts "right there all along" on a table in a room you searched high and low for and couldn´t find.

#30´s example puts it into perspective...so, now, where is the crisis? That taxes will rise? No, it´s that spending will largely remain as it is. No one in Congress, not Republican or Democrat, wants to do that in any meaningful way. As for "defense" being cut...more scare rubbish. The cut won´t even break the skin over the fat there if it´s applied with any sense. As far as most of the rest of the sequestered cuts, who´ll miss it? Of course, they´ll say the parks will be closed, and the monuments. We´ll be left without law enforcement protection, too. I´m sorry, but I´m not buying the notion of any crisis...spilled beer in a brewery. The next Congress can get real about this, starting with electing Paul Ryan as Speaker.

I´m just disgusted by the low-class, eternally campaigning, jibjab 0bama in his photo-op with the little people today.

How could anyone not see through the smirking arrogance and the put=downs? When is SOMEBODY in the Republican party going to start trading jabs with him and naming names? This senatorial respect and language is totally not working.

I don´t want to hear anything about this so-called cliff. The "Gang" voted for it. Since when do FIVE people get to tell all of us what to do? Don´t we have representatives that should have voices? This is crazy!