Is there a graveyard nearby? ...

[markpkessinger]

... because I sure hear a lot of whistling!

[a geek named Bob]

1. ??? n/t

[markpkessinger]

2. It's a reference...

...to the rampant denial concerning what the President has put on the table in the "fiscal cliff" negotiations.

[a geek named Bob]

5. I figure the president is just running out the clock, and

working on making the GOP's ideology public...

[dionysus]

3. you mean that "deal" with the republicans that they will never accept in a million years?

[markpkessinger]

6. I never said it was a deal . . .

But it was his opening volley in the negotiations. As a general rule in negoti9ations, one's starting point should represent what one believes (from his perspective) would be the ideal. The opposition does the same, and the two sides begin to work out a compromise from there. But it is rare, if ever, that a final compromise ever winds up giving either side more than it initially asked for at the outset of the negotiations.

[KansDem]

4. here...