“Okay, that makes absolutely no sense…”

Lawrence O’Donnell: 

[I]f the Super Committee is deadlocked and cannot make recommendations to Congress or if the Super Committee’s recommendations are voted down by Congress, automatic spending cuts will be triggered. 50% from domestic spending and 50% from defense spending.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney: 

If it fails, either to produce something or if Congress fails to act on it, you can be sure that the President will honor his promise to veto any legislation that would extend the Bush high income tax cuts beyond 2012, which would, of course, create nearly $1 trillion in revenue raisers when that happens.

Lawrence O’Donnell: 

Okay, that makes absolutely no sense… What the White House and the media so far seem to not understand about that is the President will never, ever have a chance to veto legislation that would extend only the Bush top tax bracket. no Democrat or Republican has offered or will ever offer a bill that extends only the Bush top tax rate. if such a bill were offered and passed in both bodies, which will never happen, yeah, the President would veto it. But the President’s firm veto threat you just heard is for a mythological tax bill that no one has ever suggested and no one will be in favor of. Republicans want to maintain all of the Bush tax rates, including the bottom one. not just the top tax rate. Democrats and the President want to maintain all of the Bush tax rates except the top Bush tax bracket.

That is what the President campaigned on in his Presidential campaign, that is what he tried to achieve last December and the game of chicken on the tax breaks the Republicans have won come down to this, if Republicans take no action, all the Bush tax breaks will expire and all the tax brackets, including the bottom tax bracket, currently at 10%, that will go up to 15%. they’ll all go up. so far the President and the Democrats are more in favor of preserving the lower Bush tax brackets than they are in favor of raising the top tax bracket. that, and only that, is why the President didn’t raise the top tax bracket back in December and that is why legislatively he will never be offered a stand-alone opportunity to do nothing but raise the top Bush tax bracket. Until the President decides that, if necessary, in order to get the top income tax bracket raised, he is willing to see every tax bracket go up, then the Republicans will always, always win the fight to extend the Bush tax rates.

Watch

High-res Hey libs, maybe it’s ‘Time’ for a deep breath?  Five Things for Liberals to Like in the Debt Ceiling Deal [A]s the details of the compromise emerged, it seemed there was actually a lot for liberals to like about this bill. If and when the House passes the bill on Monday, it will likely be with the help of a lot of Democrats. Here’s why some liberals are actually happy with this deal: The trigger: This is counterintuitive, but the trigger is actually pretty good for Democrats. For all that MoveOn thinks that it would force benefit cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, it actually wouldn’t trigger benefit cuts to any entitlements. The only cuts it would force would be a 2% or more haircut for Medicare providers. And House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, along with most Democrats, has never opposed provider cuts. Not only that, most progressives actually want the Pentagon cuts. So if the committee deadlocks and the trigger is pulled, Democrats won’t be miserable.Continue reading… Swampland, Time

Hey libs, maybe it’s ‘Time’ for a deep breath? 

Five Things for Liberals to Like in the Debt Ceiling Deal

[A]s the details of the compromise emerged, it seemed there was actually a lot for liberals to like about this bill. If and when the House passes the bill on Monday, it will likely be with the help of a lot of Democrats. Here’s why some liberals are actually happy with this deal:

The trigger: This is counterintuitive, but the trigger is actually pretty good for Democrats. For all that MoveOn thinks that it would force benefit cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, it actually wouldn’t trigger benefit cuts to any entitlements. The only cuts it would force would be a 2% or more haircut for Medicare providers. And House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, along with most Democrats, has never opposed provider cuts. Not only that, most progressives actually want the Pentagon cuts. So if the committee deadlocks and the trigger is pulled, Democrats won’t be miserable.

Continue reading… Swampland, Time

“

And then there are the reported terms of the deal, which amount to an abject surrender on the part of the president. First, there will be big spending cuts, with no increase in revenue. Then a panel will make recommendations for further deficit reduction — and if these recommendations aren’t accepted, there will be more spending cuts.

Republicans will supposedly have an incentive to make concessions the next time around, because defense spending will be among the areas cut. But the G.O.P. has just demonstrated its willingness to risk financial collapse unless it gets everything its most extreme members want. Why expect it to be more reasonable in the next round?

In fact, Republicans will surely be emboldened by the way Mr. Obama keeps folding in the face of their threats. He surrendered last December, extending all the Bush tax cuts; he surrendered in the spring when they threatened to shut down the government; and he has now surrendered on a grand scale to raw extortion over the debt ceiling. Maybe it’s just me, but I see a pattern here.

Did the president have any alternative this time around? Yes.

”

Paul Krugman, The President Surrenders - NYTimes

“Huge win for Obama: Across the board spending cuts in trigger would not take effect until 2013 — when Bush tax cuts expire.” - @StevenTDennis

Krugman writes that Obama “surrendered last December.” But as I wrote here, Obama was the clear winner during that lame duck session. And it took some time for that to become the consensus. Steven Dennis’ tweet might be an early indication that the negative reaction to Obama’s seeming capitulation could be overstated. It might be a good idea to wait a day, week or probably much longer to lay judgment.