First, do no harm
by digby
Now this is funny. Brian Beutler reports:
In a tremendous irony, Republican requests for lower tax rates, a high estate tax threshold, and a permanent AMT fix — combined with Democratic requests to delay the sequester, include a “doc fix” for Medicare physicians, and extend emergency unemployment benefits — have left the parties negotiating toward a plan that would result in no net deficit reduction over 10 years, according to Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin.
But by retracting the Social Security ask, Republicans bought themselves a few more hours to cut a deal.
“I was really gratified to hear the Republicans have taken their demand for Social Security benefit cuts off the table,” Reid said. “The truth is they should never have been on the table to begin with.”
Well, he's right about that but the president didn't exactly reject the concept in his interview on Meet The Press this morning. But considering the fact that it has nothing whatsoever to do with the deficit they are all so worked up about it's awfully nice to see it moved off the agenda (for now.)
Whatever. The deficit is the least of our problems. I'm sure the Dems would like to avoid another debt ceiling debacle and maybe the Republicans are losing their taste for battle and won't do it. But at this point, I'm applying the Hippocratic oath to these hypocrites: first, do no harm. The deal described above fits that bill about as close as one can in this environment. Let's get 'er done.
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