Republican pundits just don't get it

Jennifer Rubin, "Right Turn" in the Washington Post, writes this in "What to do about Grover?" (that's Grover Norquist, not the blue guy on 'Sesame Street'):

"The president is increasingly acting like, and through his congressional allies signaling, he would just as soon go over the cliff, send us into recession and break his own pledge not to raise taxes on the middle class (which he already broke with Obamacare) than forgo the opportunity to stick it to the rich in isolation. Think about that for a moment. It is breathtaking really how devoted this president is to serving up red meat to his base even at the expense of the country at large and middle-class taxpayers  specifically. But that is the president the voters chose and now they have him."


And my response is:

No, it's breathtaking how the REPUBLICANS will oppose any effort to keep the wealthy from being even more wealthy, Jennifer.  And the sequester, with its drastic cuts to the military, was supposed to force the REPUBLICANS to negotiate in good faith, with an actual compromise possible.  Obama is compromising by NOT letting the tax cuts expire for everyone, just those fortunate few who have a combined annual income over $250,000 - roughly three times more than my family's combined annual income.  Gee, who needs the tax break more?

And here's a bit from Greg Sargent (a liberal pundit in the Post, writing in "The Plum Line", "The Morning Plum: GOP will buckle on high end tax rates" --

"There is no equivalence between the Democratic and Republican sides, however. The GOP has not given an inch when it comes to the core question of whether tax rates on the rich will go up. Yes, Republicans have agreed to new revenues from the wealthy via closing loopholes and deductions. But many experts believe the math simply can’t be made to work without a rise in high end rates, and this was perhaps the central issue in the election that Obama just won decisively. The contrast is simple: Dems have given ground on the need for Medicare cuts — even if you think they haven’t given enough ground, they have given some ground. But Republicans have not given any ground on the central concession they will have to make for a deal to be possible."

And some of the Republicans (but not all of them) seem to be forgetting this little detail:

"Rep. Lee Terry of Nebraska tells the Ohama World Herald that the fact that taxes will go up automatically on January 1st  gives Dems the upper hand. “We’re screwed either way. We really have no leverage in these discussions.”

Oh yeah, that.  And the fact that more voters will blame the intransigent tone-deaf Republicans in Congress (more on them later) for an economic downslide than will blame the President, who can take it right to them in both his second inagural address and the State of the Union speech if they keep on forgetting to get real.