Taxes are, contrary to popular belief inside the beltway, a losing issue for Republicans. An overwhelming majority of Americans support raising taxes on the wealthy, including a significant portion of self-identified Republicans.
Privatizing Medicare is also a losing issue, with more than 60% of the rabidly anti-"Obamacare" Tea Party opposing it, and the Republicans have no sensible alternatives because the sensible alternative has already been passed into law by President Obama and the Democrats, and Mitt Romney.
Republican leadership is actually aware of these facts, which is why they are now signaling that they intend to punt on the issues of taxes and healthcare until after the 2012 election.
(Reuters) - The outlines of a deal that would allow the United States to avert a debt default emerged on Thursday as top Republican and Democratic lawmakers held their first meeting aimed at cutting the bloated U.S. deficit.
Republicans edged toward a White House plan that would cut some spending now and set long-term deficit reduction targets, but said more difficult decisions on taxes and healthcare spending would have to wait until after the 2012 election.
A top Republican lawmaker, Paul Ryan, said there would be no immediate "grand slam" agreement on tackling the budget deficit, expected to reach $1.4 trillion this year and a major worry for Americans and investors.
There will be no immediate "grand slam?" Wasn't the Paul Ryan Path to Poverty suppose to be a "serious-as-a-heart-attack" glad slam into the upper deck while the bases are loaded? A bold, courageous, and game-changing swing of the bat which would purge our nation of its fiscal demons?
What we are witnessing here is a realization among Republicans that they have overplayed their hand and cannot possibly win the budget battle, especially not during a presidential campaign. Their policies are far too unpopular to campaign on.
The angry reception Republicans received at their recent town hall meetings, during which they were schooled by their own constituents, brought reality home to them. This has caused many to become more concerned about being re-elected than pursuing some ideological crusade.
Unfortunately for them, and unfortunately for John Boehner's career, they're already on recording having voted in favor of the policies which they are now backing away from at the outset of the next presidential election. Their only remaining option is to paint over the expiration date on their "Pledge to America" with a Magic Marker and write-in a new date.
Meanwhile, President Obama and the DNC already have plenty of material to draw from in the campaign against the Republicans in addition to a solid list of legislative accomplishments. And that's before the clown-car of very serious Republican presidential candidates have fully unloaded the barrage of idiocy bottled-up inside of them like compressed air. Its only May, and we already have Republican candidates talking about heroin, feminism, and pizza.