Joe Biden is a big f***ing deal!

Have you guys noticed that whenever there's one of these congressionally-mandated crises, it's always Biden who pulls us out of it? I'm not sure of Obama is playing Good Cop / Bad Cop on purpose, or if he really is that hard to make a deal with. All I know is that whenever the wheels of government grind to a halt, someone calls Joe, and magically stuff gets done. This time it seems like McConnell wanted no part of Reid, and deliberately asked to negotiate with Biden instead. The result was a compromise which 89 Senators voted for early this morning. In this climate, getting that many people from both parties to get on board is a major accomplishment.

Jonah Goldberg is calling it "The First Day of the Biden Presidency". I'm not sure if I would go that far, but now that Hillary's health is in question, Biden has to have the inside track to the 2016 nomination now (F-bombs and all), and this good press won't hurt his chances any, no matter what the House does with his deal.

They got the Democratic controlled Senate to agree on a plan... a plan that has no support from the House majority leadership. Well gee Joe you've almost solved half the problem!

And they only managed that by not resolving the debt ceiling, which will become critical in 2 months.

I don't see this as a measure of success for anyone involved, including the American taxpayer or American resident.

Joe "f*cking" Biden has no deal.

Bill is going back to Senate with amendments.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-01/citis-worst-case-scenario-coming-true-house-amend-bill-send-back-senate

Besides, what kind of a f*cking "deal" was this anyways ?

Seriously, WTF ? Why even bother ?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-01/new-definition-rich-620-billion-tax-hike-offset-15-billion-spending-cuts-and-much-mo

-t

"BACHUS SAYS HOUSE MAY SEND BILL BACK WITH SPENDING CUTS ADDED"

I think this chart better captures the "Why even bother?" sentiment:

http://forum-images.macnn.com/import/image_8090.jpg

Yup...Joe fsk'd this one up as usual. Heck, the liberal papers even think they lost some leverage. I'm curious why the Democrats want to "stick it to the wealthy" when that doesn't even come close to the problem. The House will send the bill back with $1T+ in spending cuts and we'll be in gridlock again. Can't give out money you don't have...

Who, this "deal" is even worse than everyone thought.

Seriously,

WTF ???!?!?!

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-01-01/cbo-estimates-obama-tax-cuts-add-4-trillion-deficit-over-next-decade

-t

And so ends the American financial system. Buy your gold now! We'll be back on that standard in the next decade or two.

Accumulating bullion since 2009.

-t

Latest is the House Republicans folded and will vote for the "deal".

What a f*cking farce.

Republicans declined a 10-1 offer (cuts vs. tax increase) presented last year, and now they accept 1-4 cuts vs. tax increase ?
Worst negotiators evar. What a bunch of f*cktards.

I'll repeat my call for nuking DC and start over. Under the current leadership of ass-clowns from both sides of the aisle, this country is toast.

-t

In hindsight, of course, they would have been better off taking that deal back then. But they all thought Obama would be gone, and their man would be in the White House to sign off on their deals.

My point is that the Senate leaders weren't making any progress at all until Mitch started talking to Joe. Makes you wonder how much of an asshole Harry Reid really is, now, doesn't it? It seems like whenever Mitch gets fed up with Harry, he calls Joe.

You missed a digit, the deal is 1:41 cuts:taxes, not 1:4.

But it doesn't matter. It's a solution to 5% of the problem.

Sequestration is now deferred to coincide with the debt ceiling becoming critical March 1. And the blogosphere is already concerned that taxes are off the table for that discussion since they've already been "dealt with". Defense will certainly see spending cuts, but it's only a fifth of the budget; you could zero it out and it wouldn't solve the problem. That means entitlement cuts/reform.

Bill passed the house.

Reset your countdown timers for 58 days.

What's up with the weird NASCAR subsidies and other weird stuff in this bill? Who put that shit in?

Nothing weird about it - that's how you get bills passed. You can buy votes on big issues with relatively small subsidies.

Good to see that even with the GOP's insistence that Spending Is The Problem, a little well-timed pork can go a long way. Oink oink!

Gold? Buy shotguns now to protect your stuff from the roving gangs of hoodlums...and obligatory zombies.