The Hill
Conservatives urge GOP leaders to be bold, prepare to go over cliff
“I think Obama is very mindful of his legacy and is horrified of going over the cliff,” said Andy Roth of the Club for Growth. “Going over the cliff might be a signal that needs to be sent to the president, that he needs to play ball.”
He argued that President Clinton was forced to become a less liberal president after Speaker Newt Gingrich shut down the government in 1995.
“Clinton would not play ball with Newt until Newt shut the government down,” Roth said…
“I think it is certainly better to go over the fiscal cliff than to have the Republican party deny the American people to have one party that stands for lower taxes and another party that doesn’t,” Michael Needham of Heritage Action said this week.
Blowback
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Might as well R’s, YOU are going to get blamed by bho/team/bhopress whatever you do? bho has already said he intends to slam you at the inauguration and sotu! And I might add bho will slam you even if you cave on ever little thing HE demands!
L
letget on December 23, 2012 at 1:09 PM
Do it, so Obama will own it.
It should also finish off Boehner. Let’s get a clean start with other leadership.
Starve the beast? Let’s surgically close the beast’s esophagus.
Shaughnessy on December 23, 2012 at 1:09 PM
politically, its a mistake! be prepared to lose the house as well as the senate next cycle.
nathor on December 23, 2012 at 1:11 PM
once we over the cliff, there will be such an outcry of discontent, that repubs will 1 by one fall to the pressure and give pelosi the majority she needs to pass an agenda worse than “plan B”. its a serious mistake and clear political blindness to what the cliff means.
nathor on December 23, 2012 at 1:15 PM
The MSM wasn’t quite the Dem fan club in 1994 that it is now. The GOP should not expect any balanced reporting if they do this.
Unfortunate, but that’s the way it is, and the GOP will have to find a way to get its message out (once it decided what the message is), despite the MSM.
Wethal on December 23, 2012 at 1:19 PM
I agree – the “get along / go along” tactics the GOP has been using since 2007 have worked out smashingly well for the party. Why flub that up just to stand on principle and attempt to actually DO something?
/S
HondaV65 on December 23, 2012 at 1:20 PM
My plan …
Every dollar of increase to the debt comes out of the budgets of the Department of Education, the BATF, and funding for Planned Parenthood and NPR/PBS.
Let him raise the debt as much as he wants then.
HondaV65 on December 23, 2012 at 1:23 PM
Next, we should urge the GOP leaders to flap their arms really hard and fly to the moon. There’s just as much chance of that happening as them being ‘bold.’
RoadRunner on December 23, 2012 at 1:24 PM
Popcorn. Blind leading the blind. enjoy your rump party, losers.
lostmotherland on December 23, 2012 at 1:24 PM
Obama won’t own the fiscal cliff issue, it will be “radical” Republicans that pushed us over. That’s the narrative that will be heard, and it’s the one that will be played all over the media that helped get Obama re-elected.
Obama also doesn’t mind higher taxes. He’s content going over the cliff, because it raises taxes. He doesn’t care about the working class paying more taxes, so long as he gets to redistribute the wealth in the form of government programs. In fact, liberals want the poor to have less “disposable” income and more dependency, because they want to control as much of a person’s life as they can.
amazingmets on December 23, 2012 at 1:25 PM
Yep, Conservatives, be bold, commit political suicide. And when you lose the House, whine. Suicidal advice indeed.
tommy71 on December 23, 2012 at 1:26 PM
This is not 1995. The power dynamics at the moment are almost exact opposite. The republican party is fracturing and being forced to become less conservative. The job is almost done as it is. Put your Newt Gingrich panties on this time and purposefully push us over the cliff in the name of defiance, and it will indeed be complete.
Hard core AM advertising salesman conservativism will become marginalized further. It’s what generally happens for a while when you start a game of brinksmanship, destroy and deligitimize, but don’t win it in the end.
You end up being the one delitigitimized.
Genuine on December 23, 2012 at 1:31 PM
I disagree. If Obama wants to go over the cliff it’s because it’s the easiest way to get what he wants from the Republicans and gets to come out with a “win” they can do nothing about. Here’s how it will go.
No agreement reached in the negotiations because Republicans won’t agree to raising taxes on the wealthy, and well because they can’t even get their messeging bills through the house right now. US goes over the cliff. Taxes rise on everyone. The democrats and Obama submit a bill that returns only the rates of the middle class to what they were, and they dare the republicans to vote against it.
Here’s a hint. They won’t. And Obama will be the one who made sure the middle classes tax rates didn’t go up.
Genuine on December 23, 2012 at 1:37 PM
Come Jan, it’ll be highly ironic when Obama and dems follow ‘Conservative Principles’, and propose the ‘Obama middle class tax cuts’. Lol
tommy71 on December 23, 2012 at 1:44 PM
I TOTALLY support going over the cliff. It blows up the only bargaining chip the Dems have.
No wonder Obama and the Dems, after the failure of Boehner’s Plan B, are scrambling to promote a scaled-back plan that will buy them time in order to convince some squishy Republicans to vote for tax revenues.
Some have argued on this forum that going over the cliff is a bad thing because Obama will later swoop in to save the day with his version of tax cuts.
That might very well be but he ends up not getting the prize he really wants – Republican fingerprints on any tax increases.
TheRightMan on December 23, 2012 at 1:51 PM
I like the cut of your jib.
BTW, best guess on the shadow economy is between 20%-25%. If it gets to 33% or higher, the government won’t matter.
platypus on December 23, 2012 at 1:53 PM
Our side forgets that tax cuts are the plague to Democrats, as is cutting spending. Come January Obama will have to do one or both, making him look weak to his side. I’m not buying this bs that cutting taxes is what Obama wants.
txhsmom on December 23, 2012 at 1:54 PM
Republicans will surely be blamed if we go over the cliff. The Democrat Media will see to that.
It doesn’t matter. When those short paychecks come in, there will be plenty of blame to go around. If Democrats think they will be immune they are crazier than I already think they are.
Could be the best possible result. Something needs to get the attention of the sheeple, and soon, or we have far worse in store. Can you spell bankruptcy?
B-A-N-K-R-U-P-T-C-Y.
I knew that you could!
novaculus on December 23, 2012 at 1:56 PM
You mean instead of John Boehner proposing them?
Dongemaharu on December 23, 2012 at 1:59 PM
Whine all you like, all you journalists, but your Democrats are powerless to stop the Republican Zombie Juggernaut Apocalypse from collapsing the country. /
Aitch748 on December 23, 2012 at 2:10 PM
@Dongemaharu Boehner? Whats he have to do with it anymore? Hes already lost his credibility, thanks to CINO’s in his own party. Giving Obama and the progs the win.
tommy71 on December 23, 2012 at 2:14 PM
This is a prime example why the motherland is lost.
The rats are partying on the ship which is out of supply lines.
One has to love the idiocy!
Starve the Looters. Let the rates go to Clinton-types for all. Obama hates the middle class. Let them feel his pain.
Schadenfreude on December 23, 2012 at 2:21 PM
future prediction by Frum:
is he wrong on this?
nathor on December 23, 2012 at 2:44 PM
Yes, he is.
You forget the Bush tax cuts, which will be what Obama will be proposing minus the higher tax rates on whatever income bracket he chooses, have been in existence already.
And did that alone lead to “morning in America”?
How can you have morning in America when the rich are about to get soaked?
How can you have morning in America when Obamacre and its higher tax rates on everyone are about to kick in?
How can you have morning in America when you have a communist in the White House?
TheRightMan on December 23, 2012 at 2:51 PM
dont let your political beliefs cloud you on this. The large majority will blame repubs(polls already show this). its nice that you are gearing up for the post cliff political battle, but it a battle lost a start and Frum prediction will become true.
nathor on December 23, 2012 at 3:01 PM
He is choomed, as is Obama.
The middle class will be raped by Obama, as it s/b. Obama hates the middle class and wants to destroy it. His Utopian pip dream has the middle class as a huge hurdle.
Only the blind don’t see and are fooled by him, again.
May all who brung him, and their families, be destroyed by him. They are from all parties.
Schadenfreude on December 23, 2012 at 3:30 PM
nathor, you’re as delusional as ever.
The recession is long here – next is the depression. Just get ready. Obama loves the misery, so long as he and his live like Louis XV and Madame de Pompadour.
Starve the Looters, in turn the Moochers. They must feel the pain.
Schadenfreude on December 23, 2012 at 3:32 PM