ok, so Obambi wants more revenue....can someone please stand up and explain that when you LOWER the overall rates, especially capital gains, then revenue to the treasury GOES UP!! He just wants the "revenge" against "the rich", amen.

Was on the flight back from DC yesterday with dead fish RAHM EMMANUEL...Better believe he was in DC to advise Obama on how to game the Republicans....and to once again get everything he wants....

Hang tough Boehner...remind the press...We the People didn´t give Obama control of the Congress ...and for a reason...so Obama wouldn´t have control of America´s Checkbook...Obama didn´t Win Everything this time because of his fiscal irresponsibility...and his wild-eyed spending

You are quite correct, #1. Mr. Obama prefers tax revenge over tax revenue, and has said so on several occasions.

I love the MSM spin this weekend....

They contend that obama got a "decisive" victory??????

They think he should get what he wants because Americans wanted him to finish the job....

Psssst -- the job of finishing America.....????????

LZK

My prediction: Obama is too blinded by idealism to cut spending, so he drives us over the fiscal cliff.
Remember those Bush tax cuts that were only for the rich? Now everyone pays more in taxes! Pubbies keep saying the same thing over and over and over: We offered tax hikes, Obama could not cut spending. He drove us over the cliff, not us.
After a year of tax hikes, the Obamacare bills come due in January 2014. Finally, the Obamabots feel the pinch from his disasterous policies and they can´t wait to throw him under the bus.
Pubbies do great in the 2014 midterms, with a presidential election close behind.

Obama doesn´t realize that the real taxpaying working citizens that are paying for his circus didn´t vote for him. His popularity and approval ratings will drop like a rock after January 1st. The voters who really count will jerk his chain big time.

Just say no, people.

We need to be very vocal in our support of not caving. We have shown over the last two years, that unless the Repubs hear from us, they go wobbly.

Zero has no mandate. It´s time to teach him what checks and balances mean. We need to use Rham´s mantra, and use this crisis to our advantage.

Could someone please tell the GOP how to message?

If it´s one thing the Republicans do well, it´s "tottering."

Sadly, I´ve been burned too many times by believing Establishment Republicans. I think they´ll cave instead of hanging tough and together.

I really really want to believe the GOP will oppose the President on principle of lowering taxes for everyone.

The Establishment GOP will go wobbly. They´ve done it before and despite unanimous opposition of House Republicans to Øbama´s ´stimulus package´ I think they´ll cave.

The DemoRATS know it, Establishment Republicans know it, and many Americans know it. It´s just a matter of political posturing now...

He knows very well who voted for him #6. He still thinks that the world loves him. Instead the world has been laughing at him. That is what he doesn´t see or get. He is psychologically unable to.

Fred has gone wobbly so many times that I can´t put much credence in anything he says.

#6, he doesn´t care.

The fisal cliff is an engineered crises.

NO, NO, NO! Barnes´ entire piece accepts the premise that we need to compromise these issues. That is exactly the position the Democrats want us to be in -- accepting THEIR premises that taxes must be raised on anyone. For God´s sake, Barnes, get off the "we must compromise" sled, will you?

What is wrong with making Democrats accept the GOP premise that no taxes need be raised, that spending and entitlements MUST be cut, and that it is up to the Democrats who made this mess to fix it without GOP fingerprints?

Dammit! What does it take to get thru to the GOP to quit being REactive and start being PROactive?

Who can climb through all this gobbledygook? The only impression one is left with is that the people are getting screwed. None of what I hear is confidence-inspiring that things would actually improve.

Elections have consequences and the people have spoken. Give them what they want. Something needs to make the electorate wake up. I would have thought the last four years would be more than enough. Apparently Americans are gluttons for punishment.
Wobble away, GOP! You will shoulder the blame with the electorate no matter what. The media will see to that.

As proven by his astonishing statement during the first (2008) presidential debates, our president is a man who does not know a balance sheet from an income statement, nor how the two interrelate. Evidently, the same goes for financial "genius" Geithner, and currency debaser Bernanke. Yet he and the rest of the Comrades claim they are proposing a workable budget for the United States of America? They really think that we are as stupid as they are.

Good article. We absolutely cannot cave to this bullying idiot.

I´ll admit I didn´t read the article. To read another thing from Mr. Barnes, at this point, is just not tempting.

Yes-agree #10. This line in the sand, by the Republicans, is probably just for show. It makes for great theatrics. Oh the drama as we head to the fizzle cliff!

Then, at the last minute, the pubs flip and give Obama everything he wants, as long as he flips them a promise to cut spending some day. Everyone is happy! Obama gets to go to Hawaii after all(whew-what if he had to stay in DC? Wouldn´t wish that on him/ha ha). Boehner will say it was their responsibility to come together to do what´s, ahem, best for the country.

If CEO´s were running a corp like this, they would have been canned long ago. Any subsequent CEO delivering this level of performance would be let go as well. Yet we get to keep the same miserable players and continue the march to sky is the limit debt. Those politicians in DC are not worth what they are being paid.

[[[To strengthen their hand, Republicans would be smart to stress two things. One is the Simpson-Bowles commission’s strategy for handling the debt and deficit crisis. The Obama-created commission said uncontrolled spending is the cause of the problem, that the best way to gain more revenue is through tax reform, and that any deal must be bipartisan. Republicans agree and should say so loudly. Obama doesn’t agree.]]]

Yes! And, if it comes to it, call Obama´s bluff and go over the cliff. Then we´ll actually have more leverage. Don´t believe the MSM on that.

Fred Barnes is blind to the supernatural event happening in front of his eyes.

If you try and see this with eyes accustomed to The World, you´re missing what´s really going on.

Most Americans don´t have a shred of economic sense. That´s why they easily jump on the ´tax the rich´ bandwagon like it will instantly solve everything and we can go on like nothing happened. I remember Clinton´s famous statement that ´even I think I raised taxes too much´. A $1.6 trillion tax hike on the investors and small business owners will crush the economy. Obama knows this. It is the hapless morons who voted for him who have yet to figure this out.

#24, I too remember that Clinton statement, "even I think I raised [your] taxes too much."

As I recall, he made that statement in front of a group of businessmen in TX -- a group who were decidedly cool in their reception of Clinton ... thus prompting his admission!

Yet this is ignored today by Dem propagandists who claim that the our economy "flourished" under Clinton´s ´92-´93 tax hikes. NOT TRUE!

It was only after the GOP swept Congress in ´94, and imposed some degree of fiscal control, that our economy brightened into the halcyon days of the mid-to-late ´90s -- falsely credited by journos to Clinton.

#5 going over the cliff and having taxes go up on everyone will only be blamed on the republicans, and they will lose the house in 2014. that is what O and his minions are counting on; that is why they are not negotitating. It´s been working for them - why change now??

Please crumble and flush yourself down.

GOP House and Senate members should stand firm on spending cuts but more importantly they must also have a cohesive and strong public relations strategery to explain why the spending cuts are essential.

The reality of the situation is that if the Republicans do hold line and we go over the cliff, the only ones that stand to be hurt are those who actually have jobs of own small businesses. The wealthy won´t like it, but it won´t change their life style. And the 47%(?) that don´t pay taxes simple won´t care. That is unless their government check stops coming. Then they will riot in the streets and demand that their freebees continue unabated.

The MSM encourages Bammy to think that he´s really something.

He´s just a steaming pile.

The 2014 midterms will wreck his final term and begin and further the flushing process.
It´s just a matter of time...
to be rid of this slime.

FTA " Republicans are in a stronger position than in 2009. Obama isn’t. He won reelection thanks to a negative campaign of historic proportions.
He has no mandate.
And now he’s made the mistake of thinking he’s more popular and powerful than he really is.
This is how second terms crumble. "
Really Fred ?
Do you still think the media will ever criticize anything
St Obama does ?
Republicans Bad . Obama Good.
Majority of Americans are morons.

It almost doesn´t matter what the House Republicans do. A majority of Americans voted for disaster, and they´re about to get it. Unfortunately, those of us who know better are also stuck on the sinking ship.

The one and only important point Barnes made is that BO spent the last 2 years "proselytizing" for tax increases.

And what did the Republicans do?

Did they listen to Tea Partiers? did they enlist their help? engage their wisdom? Did they study Hayek, Reagan, history, Marx and other utterly failed economic harridans? Did they learn the language and how to communicate??????? NO NO NO NO

Sorry folks...boehner is already wobbly...has replaced every reliable conservative on house committees with his lackeys...prefers power over principles...This kenyan powered TITANIC ship of state will steam bravely into the abyss with the media spouting continuous jedi mind games "These are not the droids we want, move along" to a public who is more interested in big government gifts stolen from the rich than in truth...

Now that i had a chance to read the posts...what reality are we living in? Come on folks, obama wants to drive the thing over the cliff...how else will eh be able to dramatically expand (again) the government...i marveled at the audacity of the man for four years...he has a plan and is well along...they aren´t flying by the seat of their pants, they are FUNDAMENTALLY TRANSFORMING this country...W A K E U P P E O P L E ! ! ! !

You ain´t seen nothing yet, folks. Wait until the msm re-elects Obie for a third term.

WHO CARES

It´s all about me and mine from now on. When the politicians insure voter id and fair elections I may take interest in politics again but it´s all about me until then.