Debt ceiling talks have teabaggers ready for disappointment - and retribution (Politico)

[jefferson_dem]

Debt ceiling talks have tea party ready for disappointment - and retribution
By KENNETH P. VOGEL & MARIN COGAN | 7/31/11 12:29 PM EDT

Tea party activists are bracing for disappointment as negotiations on the debt ceiling move closer to a deal, but sending a clear signal to congressional Republicans that they are even less willing to tolerate compromise and more likely to seek retribution against anyone who has not fully supported their agenda.

They are focused in particular on the fate of the concession they extracted from House Speaker John Boehner in order to get his debt ceiling bill through the House last week - a provision making a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution a prerequisite for raising the debt ceiling again that they regarded as a huge victory.

“If the final bill is passed by establishment Republicans and House Democrats and does not include a balanced budget amendment as a requirement, it will be completely unacceptable and will be seen as a violation of the mandate that the tea party and likeminded people gave Republicans in 2010,” said Ryan Hecker, the leader of a crowd-sourced tea party effort called the Contract from America.

“The tea party didn’t help elect Republicans because they liked Republicans. They elected Republicans to give them a second chance. And if they go moderate on this, then they have ruined their second chance, and there will be a real effort to replace them with those who will stand up for economic conservative values,” said Hecker, who helped conservative House Republicans rally support for the amendment.

How tea party activists and organizers react to a compromise not to their liking could go a long way towards determining the fate of the small-government movement that exploded onto the scene in 2009 in opposition to what activists saw as unchecked spending by President Barack Obama and the Democratic congress.

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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/60302.html#ixzz1ThZwA4IK

[Faygo Kid]

1. Bunch of nuts have hijacked this country long enough.

I hate what's coming, too, but for entirely different reasons. I'm sick of the overblown, Koch-funded, so-called "Tea Party" movement and the dozens who show up for their rallies. And the media that just can't quit giving them legitimacy.

Let them be the first to slash their own Social Security checks and Medicare coverage.

[graywarrior]

5. I despise the media for what they've done to this country

And if I have to listen to Brokaw's annoying, gravel voice any longer I will scream.

[alcibiades_mystery]

2. The speculation on the new BBA conditions is a major GOP defeat

Look at the before-and-after:

BEFORE: Six month increase of the debt ceiling; the ceiling six months hence CAN ONLY BE LIFTED if a Balanced Budget Amendment has already passed the House and Senate and been sent to the states. In this scenario, PASSAGE of the BBA is a condition precedent to the debt ceiling being raised in December of this year.

AFTER: 18 month increase of the debt ceiling; revisiting the debt ceiling NOT contingent on PASSAGE of the BBA. The Senate - the current Senate, must merely agree to bring the BBA to the floor for a vote. No passage of the BBA is required.

So, essentially, the BBA was considered a condition precedent before, and is now merely a weak election year argument.

It takes quite a bit of sophistry to paint the BEFORE and AFTER of the BBA is anything but a Democratic win.

[Jim Lane]

4. You're buying their spin.

You say that it would be a Democratic win because you compare it with a ludicrously extreme Republican demand.

To be clear, I'm not joining in the DU sport of accusing someone of being a troll or a false-front Freeper. I'm sure you wrote your post in good faith. What your post illustrates, though, is that this Republican tactic of making extreme demands can be effective.

Consider an analogy to the health care debate. If Obama had started out by demanding single-payer, and the Republicans had bargained him down to a bill that lowered the Medicare age to 60 and provided a robust public option for everyone else, would the right wing have said, "It takes quite a bit of sophistry to paint the BEFORE and AFTER of the health care bill as anything but a Republican win"? No, they would not have -- and we shouldn't fall into that trap, either.

[mzmolly]

3. :D

:kick:

[AtomicKitten]

6. I don't think the teabaggers know their heads from their asses.

They have folks like Faux News and the Heritage Foundation doing their thinking for them, getting them to parrot the utter false assertion that the possibility of default is a made-up ploy. They are and will be perpetually fractious, bereft of facts and reason.