That ^^^^^ Should have been posted to the FTP Commentary....

Michale.....

Couldn't have said it better myself.

If Obama really cared about this country *AND* the Democratic Party, he would step aside...

Michale.....

Yet Republicans put taxes on the table and Dems walk away..

Dems want a deal???

Not so much...

Michale.....

The Republicans, not so much.

Dems in the Senate: Tight. No apparent Problems.
Reps in the Seante: Not so much. Probably not a problem but it FEELS wonky.

Dems in the House: Forget it. You beat one of these guys and you should immediately start running for King of the world.
Reps in the House: Make that King of the Universe.

Becerra: 31st CA district. I don't think the people in this district can SPELL Republican ... much less vote for one. Becerra's only opposition will come from within the Dem party, don't hold your breath.

Clyburn: Won his last election with 65%. In South Carolina. In 2010. Right. Hell, this district voted for Greene.

VanHollen: won with 73% in 2010. Good thing Clyburn is in SC. No way he could beat this dude.

Hensarling: pushes all the right buttons, causes, and issues. A running litany of TP concerns, without the TP baggage (he defeated Michele Bachmann for his R house leadership position). This maybe the only place in America where the Libertarian is Hispanic. 66% winner in the last elections. This one is safe.

Upton: Near as I can see, this one is safe. The district is compact, 86% white and 50-50 Urban/Rural in SW Michigan. He has been challenged twice from R's on the right and has had no problems defeating them. His closest call to a Dem was from an art gallery owner. Really??? and ART GALLERY OWNER? An altogether good place to be for someone who doesn't appear to be TP.

Camp: 4th District has been R since the 70's. North-Central Michigan. Mostly small towns, mostly white, mostly conservative but doesn't appear to be rabid, meateating Idaho types. The only scandal I can find is that he won't grant his wife a Jewish divorce. While this is VERY significant to Orthodox Jews (which Camp appears to be) it don't mean much in Central Michigan.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress_Joint_Select_Committee_on_Deficit_Reduction#Members

Is it only me, or are the Democrats on the committee more "safe" in their electoral potential than the Republicans?

Senate:
Murray: Re-elected in the R landslide of 2010. That in and of itself is impressive. Her opponent (Rossi) was not a headcase like Angle in Nevada.

Bacchis: Senator since 1978 with the last election won with 73% (2008). I don't care what the political situation is, if you can win by 73%, the opposition has to know it ain't gonna walk on ...

Kerry: 'Nuff said. Ya'll might not like him outside MA, but I doubt the OTHER JFK could unseat him now.

Kyl: Last election won with 53%+. Not all that good for someone who won the previous election with 79%. Kyl has gotten crosswise some of the radical conservatives on immigration. He's not for it, but he doesn't seem to want to kill everyone. Up for election this year. I wonder if he asked for this assignment?

Portman: Elected in 2010 to fill a retired seat, Portman is up for re-election in 2014. If I were in this seat, given the state of Ohio politics and the potential backlash against 2010 R's I can't think that this assignment is plum. Presumably, there are factors going on here that make this more of a gimme than not.

Pat Toomey: Just got over a bruising battle in PA, against an opponent who was ostrasizied by the party apparatchiks. Won by about 80K votes out of 4million cast. I wouldn't think this a safe seat, but it doesn't come up again until 2016.

Information on vote counts and opponents comes from the pages in Wikipedia, but I get confused easily to you should double check.

Next the House

Sooner or later, taxes will be increased on the middle class and the poor. Until and unless there's some sort of currently-unimaginable sea change in the political outlook of the population at large, taxes will not be raised on the rich.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204323904577040373463191222.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsThird

I think everyone here would agree with what Mrs Palin says here.....

Michale......

Interesting commentary...

From a DEMOCRAT, no less...

Michale.....

Debt Ceiling Debacle Redux... :D

Your commentary outlines perfectly what I have always said...

There ain't no difference between Democrats and Republicans, sans their respective 'gods'...

"Your good and your evil use the same methods to achieve the same goals."
-Yarnek, STAR TREK, The Savage Curtain

As an aside, I think THAT quote is the most oft used quote of mine in here... :D

Michale....

There is 0% chance of sequestration. Why? Because automatic cuts would affect the military, the world's biggest lobbying organization. No matter what happens, there is not a chance in the world of these automatic cuts.

If Vegas has odds on it, I'd bet it big :)

-David

You may well be right. What's interesting though is that since rescinding the cuts can easily be filibustered by either side it will take bipartisan efforts stop the cuts. And that means each side would have to give the other something in return. Yet each side's sacred-cows are the other side's poison-pills, and like you said it'll be an election year.

So when it comes to stopping those slow-moving bullets both parties will be damned if they do and damned if they don't. As a result they may just let the cuts happen and try to blame it all on the super-committee.