Also, I don't think even this "clean" deal is good for anything.  This economy is corrupt to the core, and until you clean up the corruption and genuinely punish the criminality that runs this mess...absolutely nothing significant will change.

House Republicans, who already hold the majority, can't possibly accept this deal. It would mean they have to take a vote to hand power on the debt ceiling over to the White House. "We, the House, hate this and it will not move," a House GOP aide told the National Review. "It would basically mean that the president only needs one third of either body to raise the debt limit, meaning that we would cede our majority status in the House. Can you imagine how insane this would make the grass roots/tea party -- we have the numbers to stop an increase, but we completely give up and let Dems uphold a veto with a one-third vote. No way." Speaker John Boehner's spokesman Michael Steele, meanwhile, said, "the Speaker shares the Leader's frustration," but stopped well short of saying he shares his solution.

Are you talking politics? Well, if you are, then tell me what Democrat in his or her right mind would ever vote for Obama now? He has made his intentions clear. He does not stand for Democratic principles. He created the Catfood Commission and he intends to gut Social Security and Medicare. He has now told us to eat peas. We should have taken better care of our finances (as he hands out trillions to the crooked bankstas).  

And if he was only joking - or playing - about not sending out the August Social Security checks, then this guy is one sick, heartless jerk.  

I see nothing even vaguely resembling a win. I see a man so out of touch with his core constituency, as well as all people who will ever need Social Security (and that's pretty much all of us), so unprepared for the challenges of the office, so willing to sell out anybody anytime anyplace, that it makes me sick.

But time here helps. Complicated budget changes are going to require a deal in the next few days.  Every day without a deal gives the McConnel option better odds.

The good news is that even if this isn't realistic, it de-powers the House GOP hostage situation.  There is a way out around the Tea Party types that moderate republicans, at the 11th hour, can take.

It's one of the most obviously political stunts I have ever seen, but it also says to me that Wall Street has started calling their representatives. I've read stories about Wall Street insiders willing to take tax increases to get this behind us, and we may be starting to see the results of those sentiments.

The plan is designed to give President Obama the power to raise the debt limit through the end of his first term on his own, but to force Democrats to take a series of votes on the debt limit vote in the months leading up to the election [...]

The plan would require Congress to pass a bill allowing Obama to raise the debt limit on his own contingent on him taking a series of steps: Obama would have to notify Congress of his intent tor raise the debt limit -- a high-sign to Congress that would be subject to an official censure known as a "resolution of disapproval," and which Obama could veto. If he vetoed the resolution, and if Congress sustained the veto, then Obama would also have to outline a series of hypothetical spending cuts he'd make, equal to the amount of new debt authority he gives himself.

McConnell proposes extending this process in three tranches, to force Obama to request more borrowing authority, and to force debt limit votes in Congress, repeatedly through election season.

I don't know what "hypothetical spending cuts" are; what's the point if he's not required to get them enacted?  Hey, whenever I buy a MegaMillions ticket, I think about what I would do with the money, but, that's just wishful thinking.  So what's the point - to have plenty of "this is what the Democrats want to do" hanging over the entire campaign season?  To then be able to get what they want, piecemeal, on a "how about you put your money where your mouth is?"

Questions I posed in the earlier thread:

(1)  Will Obama accept this deal?  What happens to his credibility if he now walks away from the relentless talk about how the ONLY way we could ever hope to grow the economy is to "get our fiscal house in order and do SOMETHING about reducing the debt and the deficit?  Is "never mind!" going to be an option for him?

(2)  Will Democrats really - really - be able to run on Republicans being the party that wanted to end Medicare, or will Republicans be able to neutralize that charge by holding Obama up as Exhibit No. 1 in their own argument that he is no friend to the social safety net?  My guess is that Republicans will handle that part of the game with more finesse than Democrats because Obama's going to be hard to defend on the charge that he was ready, willing and able to cut benefits.

If this is the end result of the Debt Ceiling Kabuki, then President Obama will have won. Period. No cuts for the debt ceiling. A de facto clean raise of the debt ceiling.

I was never any good at chess, much less 11th dimensional chess, but it seems that today, simply by mentioning that Social Security checks are not certain to go out next month, the President changed the game.

Even the most craven of the tea-partiers went to town halls last year and screamed  about not having their Medicare cut, so there's plenty of fear about entitlement interruptions from the no-nothing wing of the Republican Party on this, as well.

That said, this seems (especially the Norquist blessing) too good to be true, but if it happens, it's an epic win, and a chance to put an unnecessary distraction behind us.

I could be mistaken, but I think McConnell was chosen to fall on his sword on this one to save the Orange-man's speakership.

1. Wall St. was not going to let a bunch of 1st. Year, unwashed Yahoos destroy their playground.
   
2. Obama wants to do the cuts, absolutely & specifically Medicare & S.S. This is his shot at the "Transformational" thing, and he learned the lesson of "Nixon opens China" all too well. He will not pass up this Legacy.
   
3. Its been said here at TL several times, and I agree; The mask of Obama being a Progressive, Liberal, or Left Leaning has permanently been ripped off, shredded, and cremated for all time. There can be no question He is a Conservative thru and thru. (and not a compassionate one)

White House press secretary Jay Carney issued a short statement late Tuesday reacting to Sen. Mitch McConnell's new proposal to raise the debt ceiling in three increments over the remainder of this Congress unless lawmakers approve a veto-proof resolution of disapproval.

Carney's statement:

"Senator McConnell's proposal today reaffirmed what leaders of both parties have stated clearly, that defaulting on America's past due bills is not an option. The President continues to believe that our focus must remain on seizing this unique opportunity to come to agreement on significant, balanced deficit reduction. As the President has said, 'If not now, when?' It is time for our leaders to find common ground and reduce our deficit in a way that will strengthen our economy."