Not to be catty, but the Democrats have always made clear their desire is to raise taxes. They´ve got their way and taxes are going up. Whose taxes will they not raise? Which of President Obama´s tax credits or holidays will they allow to expire? If taxes increase by 452 billion in 2013, what will they cut so that cuts are 3 to 1 more than tax increases?

THE PEOPLE elected tax-avoiding Republicans to the house to do what they are doing now. THE PEOPLE have spoken with their vote, and decided they want a divided governence in Congress. THE PEOPLE want the House to be in Republican control and to fight against 0bama. 0bama WON the Presidency, but THE PEOPLE want a check/balance on his imperial/dictatorial/executive order presidency.

I want the leeches of this country to starve on the street. I am tired of paying for their laziness.

I don´t see chaos, Tumulty´s hyperbole notwithstanding.
I see conviction and adherence to the Constitution.

Typical Tumulty drivel.

"...making it an all-but-ungovernable majority for Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) to lead in the House."

That´s exactly right, and it´s why we need a new Speaker in January. Congressman Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) comes to mind. I´d like to see a tough conservative Republican House really get under Obama´s skin, and Paul Ryan is just the man to lead that noble and long-overdue effort.

I think we´ve lost the war. Why did we need to die on the hill of no new taxes for millionaires? Come on! The GOP could have sent it to Reid and Obama and let them figure out how to say that everyone has to pay more. Now the GOP is branded forever as the protector of millionaires. Call me a RINO but politics is ugly and rarely pure. There is no conservative Messiah, there is no Santa Claus and Paul Ryan supported Plan B.

Chaos? Danger and opportunity - which is more dangerous:

- the current status quo and everything in our culture that supports it and ignores reason.

or

- the opportunity to blaze a renewed path (and until recently the path the U.S. was originally conceived and founded on) to demand our rights as creations of God to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

There is no middle ground - our souls require liberty or we die. In this life due to slavery, in the next due to cowardice. Liberty or death - everything else is PC sound bites.

I have to respond to #7: The answer to the question as to "why we have to die on the hill for no new taxes to millionaires?" First because it is right and moral. Second the typical response of #7 shows that he/she has swallowed the whole class warfare kabuki theater goofiness that is Baracaca Hussein Obanana and his freak show followers. Boner´s got to go! Boner´s got to go! Boner´s got to go!

Chaos! The Republicans in disarray! Obama can now blame the Republicans for the fiscal cliff!

I think what one doesn´t understand is that as Rush states the low information voter has no clue about the fiscal cliff, no clue about taxes and no clue about how the economy works. They are too busy watching The X factor, and TMZ to realize what is at stake. So the grown ups in the room have to make the decisions for the children who don´t know any better. In the end when they grow up and understand what has happened..they will thank us. (I hope!)

Plan B was never going to be up for a vote in the repulsive Reid-led Senate, so passing it would have been a futile exercise in addition to the pubs tacitly admitting that tax increases for a segment of our society actually would be a good thing. We would have been haunted with this forever to no real avail. Zippy will now proceed to Plan F which is what he wanted all along. Elections including a population of morons have consequences.

Plan B would have never been put to vote in Reid´s Senate but that is the point! It would have been Reid´s/Obama´s problem, their mess to clean up. Now, it is still the House´s. It´s getting ridiculous. If anyone was going to raise taxes on everyone, it should be Obama and the Democrats, not the GOP by default.

"Chaos"? No, just a lack of leadership. And that only means Boehner has to be shoved aside. Surely, though, we can do better than Ryan. Has he ever come up with a plan to significantly cut anything? Which Congressman wants to close the Dept of Education, or the EPA, or the Dept of Energy? Find one who wants those things, and can also communicate effectively (see Bill Whittle on youtube) -- there´s our Speaker.

And #7, to add to #9´s excellent point, the conversation should not have been about raising taxes at all, it should have been about meaningful cuts in spending! Boehner was getting outmaneuvered at every turn. Obama´s promises of spending cuts later reminded me of Wimpy of Popeye fame: "I would gladly pay you next Tuesday for a hamburger today", only of course, Tuesday would never come.

The problem isn´t the issues, the problem is Boehner. Get a true conservative speaker and the problem will greatly diminish.

Why can´t someone switch the conversation from a political ploy called a Fiscal Cliff to the legal requirement of a Balanced Budget?

All Americans, even those on the dole, have to live with a budget... If gov´t spends more than we make... even their freebies are at risk!

#14, to your Popeye/Wimpy comparison, I´d add this: Obama´s reaction to Boehner´s plan B was that plan B meant the Republicans had conceded that taxes must go up, but they needed to be raised on a larger segment of the population. That reminded me of the old joke where a guy asks a girl if she´d "do it" with him for a million dollars, and upon getting a "yes" answer, he asks if she´d do it for $10, to which she replies huffily: "No, what kind of a girl do you think I am?"... to which he replies "We´ve already established that, now we´re just haggling over price"

Karen, dahlink, when are we going to get a budget under this Administration?!!!!

The republicans are open about their disagreements while all the dems are being told to keep their mouths shut for Obama´s sake.Don´t think there isn´t dissension among the dems but none dare challenge King Barky.

There´s 2 lawmaking branches of government and all the country´s problems are being dropped in one person´s lap for a grand solution.Neither Reid or Obama have stuck their necks out because they´re political cowards.Boehners trying things and still gets the rotten tomatoes.

They´re trying to set republican up as the gang who can´t shoot straight so they´ll lose in 2014.I haven´t seen a viable option for Boehner to do instead of what he´s doing.He could have passed the million dollar offer with dem support and now all of a sudden they´re the protectors of millionaires.

Obama´s winning the battle right now but he´ll lose the war when there´s a massive job exodus from blue states thanks to obamacare.Texas is a job magnet because people think it´s the safest state to do business in right now.

The SC ruling on Obamacare was atrocious but it threw a wrench in Obama´s plan to get all states to roll over.They´re not prepared to set up federal exchanges in 35 or so states.

I nominate Jason Chaffetz for speaker. There were no freebies or goodies - not even drinks served at his campaign rallies - he said he did not believe in taking money from one person and giving it to another.

Boy, this is some fine reportin´! That Karen Tumulty, she´s really somethin´.

The Post is Pravda.

In your dreams #12 - even if Plan B had passed the House, Reid and BO would have just crossed their arms and said, "no." Then the Republicans would have been excoriated by the press for not solving the fiscal cliff.

The House has passed several bills addressing the fiscal cliff this year, and they´ve died in Reid´s Senate. Plan B would have been no different. Anyone who thinks otherwise is naive.

Cut spending to what it was prior to obama. It wasn´t needed. John Boehner and his supporters are the ones who undermined everyone.