Did R's Cave on the FEDERAL BUDGET?

Not a bad first out of the pen analysis. If the R's can keep up thir unrelenting attacks on Obamacare they can do one of two things

1convince the electorate that this is a disaster and that R's have a "better idea"
or
2 The R's get caught in a big attack on America and are "found out" for what they are doing

The R's have never been really good at quiet planning. They usually always **** up somewhere, so lets just get the popcorn and watch the spectacle.

I haven't taken the time to look at the details of the agreement yet, but I've been assuming that the main reason the Republicans took the deal was to undo all those horrendous cuts to military spending.

Plus, NASA was about to run out of funds to operate the Cassini space probe, which would mean they'd have to kill it (crash it into Saturn) early instead of operating it until 2017 as planned. That would mean we would not get to do all the observations and experiments that have been planned for coming years.

I don't think the "R"s caved so much as they found the keys to the bus, started it up, and pointed it towards the TPers. Boehner speaking out against FreedomWorks and Heritage is huge. We're also witnessing Paul Ryan attempting to look less Randian in order to become more electable on a national ticket. I don't buy it for a minute, but I'm happy with the parts about the bus and Boehner growing a pair.

ops on Cassini is about 240 million for 3 more years. Im sure they could have "found" spare change to keep it going. Its chump change compared to the real issues.

I presume they will find the money now (I hope). But no, the sequester was taking too much from NASA's budget.

As expected:
http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/budget-appropriations/192924-hagel-backs-budget-deal
http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/budget-appropriations/192938-lawmakers-split-on-military-retirement-cuts-in-budget
http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/budget-appropriations/192858-veterans-groups-angry-over-budget-deal

However, we'll have to do something about that six billion dollar cut to military retirement benefits.

Heard Boehner give his talk to "Our extreme arm of the party". He repudiated them by saying that where they wanted us to be is not where the "Party" wants to be.

mama, Could this be the end of Tea party?

I think they began to pay attention to those polls that they dont pay attention to.

I'm getting a funny feeling here. Suppose the Republicans gain the oval office and both houses of congress. I bet the story will be that Obamacare is terrible, but it would be too disruptive to revoke it and start over in 2016. I suspect they will be right.

Nope. I believe that so long as neither party is happy that something is going right.

me too

I hope it works out. I just signed up last night.

I went with the Public Option, gold version. (In Michigan the Public Option comes in two flavors, one gold and one silver, though it looks like it is structured differently in other states -- in Pennsylvania they have 12 different versions of the Public Option.)

http://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/multi-state-plan-program/

http://www.opm.gov/healthcare-insurance/multi-state-plan-program/opm-multi-state-plan-program-fact-sheet/

Trying to figure people out is a perplexing business. There is a poll out where people oppose Obamacare but like the provisions. I expect it will be like that for the foreseeable future. Kinda like all those tea partiers gripping about big government all the while taking Medicare, SSI, SS and all the rest of the governments assistance. I say that as someone who personally knows one or two exactly like that.

Most Americans oppose health law but like provisions

What about the tea partiers who do not take any govt assistance? Do they get a pass to gripe then?

Every citizen has the right to gripe right or wrong even if they dont have the least idea of the facts.

No, they didn't cave. It was a smart political move.(At least until that idiot Boehner went on a rant about the Tea Party).

The last thing the Republicans need to do right now is take the spotlight off of the Obamacare debacle.

Only a pompus clown like Boehner would deploy this strategy in terms of the budget and then pull the rug out from under it with a self-absorbed hissy fit.

The GOP jerks just keep shooting themselves in their elephantine feet. Establishment Republicans or Tea Party Rebublicans - if they make their money from politics, they are professional politicians and they care more about their livelihood than anything else. I suppose there must be a few exceptions (there always are). I just can't think of any at the moment.

BTW, the same thing goes for Democrat politicians. They may be a bit worse though since so much of their B.S. centers on faux empathy and compassion.

I'm sure that if Jesus ran as a Democrat against Satan as a Republican, I would cross party lines and vote for Jesus, but although there are millions of people who see the choices in such stark terms, it never is the case.

Every once in a while a really dangerous person achieves a position of power in our government. Jimmy Carter is, I believe, basically a very decent man (Much as are Bush father and son) but his ineptitude was dangerous. His character though was not. There have been several presidents during my life who have had major character flaws, but only two which I've found to be truly repulsive and dangerous: Richard Nixon and Barrack Obama.

Except in the degree of their hubris and arrogance, very different men though. Nixon was actually a competent politician and president, but had almost no personal appeal. Obama, on the other hand is totally incompetent but has a level of personal appeal that is astounding. If the two had somehow been able to merge as one president, we would have been well and truly screwed.

I'll continue to vote Republican because they are marginally more in favor of small government, free market economics and individual rights than Democrats.

Obama, the Democrats and the sycophantic MSM are not going to find it as easy to steer the public away from Obamacare as they have in the case of numerous other scandals.

The Republicans would be very wise not to make the job easier for them by taking their eye off of the ball and veering off on tangents.

I feel pretty sure that Boehner's tirade was an emotional outburst rather than any strategy by the Party Establishment, and we won't see another such episode. If it were the latter, we would be hearing a lot more Establishment voices joining in, and we are not. In addition, it would be a very stupid strategy. Boehner has been placating the Tea Party faction of his party not because he is all for their positions, but because they have power. This budget deal doesn't signal that he has crushed their influence. If he is any kind of a Party Leader, I suspect he regrets the comments he made.

it sure looked like blaming the tea party for him doing what he wanted to do....agree to $50 billion of extra spending over two years to get R's off stage right so that we can spend the next couple of years watching ObamaCare and the D's crash and burn.

" i did not want to do it but those darn Tea Party fools put us behind the 8 ball and I just had too"....and the D's gloat and think that the R's are on the run, think that they won.....only to be gobsmacked in about 8 months when they will be desperate for a diversionary fight with the R's and none is to be had. call it political jujutsu.

he is a small peevish man who works poorly with others who just happens to talk pretty good. all that would not have been a deal killer if he happened to have a clue what is wrong with America and what to do about it, but he does not.