I doubt that any L-dotter, at this point has confidence that the majority of republicans in this congress will continue to spend and increase the debt. The "victory" they will claim is that the democrats would spend more, spend faster.
That qualified as a "stronger hand". Sad.

I call BS. They´ll do some trimming around the edges, maybe, but there will be no substantive cuts. Were I king of the House, I´d do something bold, like propose abolishing the Dept of Education which has accomplished absolutely nothing except destruction of our once great public school system. Now that would be an effective cost cut.

Donald Rumsfeld used to say, "Make the problem bigger." As of January 1st, 77% of all taxpayers now pay more in taxes.
Not every Obamabot is a leech, some are taxpayers. These will see a smaller paycheck and think, ´Hey, I´m not rich! Why am I paying more?´
Now Obama´s supporters have skin in the game. Forever more, the fiscal cliff bill should be called the Obama tax hike. We should never let the Obamabots forget that Dear Leader ran up an enormous bill and now it´s time to start paying for it, and that includes them.

This article is all right as far as it goes. The question is, why do Republicans keep losing PR battles and having to capitulate? As long as they are losing PR battles they will continue to capitulate.

They are losing PR battles because the press is solidly supporting progressives and the majority of the public is too stupid to understand that the progressive path is a dead end. As long as that situation continues Republicans will lose.

The press is not going to change. The only option is to continue to build alternative media. The public, well, you can´t fix stupid. But, you might be able to work around it. How do you craft a message to convince dumb people to support you? Republicans tend to try to speak to the facts, which appeals to me. But it is NOT going to win the ignorant greedy masses.If we want to win, they need to be on board.

Hate to say it BUT, see Mr. Chas Brown and a Miss Lucy regarding a football, redux.

Look as long as the House Republicans vote to approve continuing spending resolutions the Dems in the Senate don´t need to prepare a budget and the yearly trillion dollar deficits will continue. The Republicans are more concerned about the bad press they would get if the govt shut down than they are in cutting spending so nothing will change. We will continue to spend a TRILLION dollars a year we don´t have for programs and departments we don´t NEED! Any proposed spending cuts will be tens years out and all just slight reductions in increased spending. It will be all smoke and mirrors. So sad.

I find it amusing that when they talk about cutting entitlements, they are always referring to Social Security and Medicare. I guess 2 years (or is that 2 years and 99 weeks) of unemployment, bennies for illegals and their families, etc. etc. are just chopped liver?

The GOP always lets the left frame the arguments. For instance, the only way to fix social security is to cut benefits. Really? Why not have those that are eligible actually contribute to the fund. Now you can draw after 10 quarters of contributions. Raise that. The democrats have turned the fund into financing for their programs,i.e., there is no money in the fund. Change that. Review the eligibility for dependent children welfare payments when no money ever went into the fund. I am tired of Alinsky frame the argument tactics.

Since money is a powerful drug to Liberals, just say no. Someone has to put them in rehab!

Every issue the GOP loses they say they want to hold out for the BIG fight. Talk about kicking the can down the road. The GOP are experts at that.

Who is going to bell the cat? Boehner? McConnell? Really? Please.

Semper Fi

PFFFFFT!

Does that mean they will whine for 30 minutes instead of 15 minutes before surrenduring and giving NØbama exactly what he wants???

When exactly did the Republicans lose their cajones and start emulating France instead of Ronald Reagan???

#11, you beat me to it. Same litany of excuses for how many years now".? Here are a few: next time, we have to choose our battles, we´re in a tough spot, we have no power, it´s the best we could do and of course, the promises that W had this brilliant poker strategery that would box the Democrat´s ears. The media will not change. The GOP either learns to frame issues clearly and intelligently, stop complimenting their enemies and put some fresh bold conservatives into leadership or do not expect any wins from now on. Winners act. Winners don´t whine.

Exactly! #12-if the House pubbies wanted to send ØweBama a message, they would have fired Boehner.