Did those of you clamoring for the Obama deal check with Jim DeMint first?

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

Edit to add "the Obama deal"

Jim DeMint Launches GOP Dissent Over Obama Tax Compromise

Within 24 hours of the presentation of a quasi-viable solution having been rolled out on the table, Republican Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina stated he would filibuster the tax cut deal brokered by Republican leaders in the Senate and President Obama. DeMint has promised more of his colleagues will circle the wagons and follow suit.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20101209/pl_ac/7365246_jim_demint_launches_gop_dissent_over_obama_tax_compromise

[BeyondGeography]

1. It would be a disaster if this deal fell apart because of the D's

Much less so if DeMint torpedoes it.

We kill it and Obama has to go back to the table with a Republican House and having already shown his hand.

They kill it, and he can declare war on the hostage takers.

[niceypoo]

2. Kill it

Go home and let the GOP own it come January. They will hold it up for a few days, 90% of the country will be outraged and they will pass it and the GOP will get all the blame.

Why on earth Obama wants the Bush tax cuts to become the Obama tax cuts is beyond any sane person.

[BeyondGeography]

6. I root for Sen. DeMint and for the gift of a do-over

[underpants]

8. Demint can smell the nomination

From the south (this IS still the Party of the South) and he is pretty much elected for life at this point

He knows that he can make any show that he wants and it is SHOWTIME!! baby

[BeyondGeography]

9. I wish him every success

:patriot:

[Life Long Dem]

10. It's show time with peoples checks?

Can you get any lower than that?

[underpants]

13. They are parts of the machine

and even if you stand by the machine when it runs you get something.

[Hello_Kitty]

3. WTF is his problem with it? eom

[Ruby the Liberal]

5. The Rs have stated that they gave up the farm by agreeing to Unemployment benefits

Strip those out while keeping the rape of Social Security and tax cuts for billionaires and DeMint & Co will be right back on board.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

7. Yep, that was stupid (of Obama) tying UI to tax cuts...

...then using "hostage taking" rhetoric against his base.

[emulatorloo]

11. Saw a story yesterday - He's mad the tax cuts are temporary, and he hates unemployment benefits -

He wants to turn unemployment benefits in to a "Loan Program" so it will motivate people to get back to work. I kid you not.

As to the tax cuts he says they should be "permanent" because we have a "permanent economy." We don't have a "temporary economy" so why should we have temporary tax cuts? Again I kid you not.

I wish I had the link, it was an interview with him on the ABC news website.

EDIT FOUND THE LINK!

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2010/12/demint-a-no-on-tax-deal.html

<SNIP>

He doesn’t like the fact that the tax cut extension is temporary and he doesn’t like the extension of unemployment insurance.

“I don’t think we need to extend unemployment any further without paying for it, and without making some modifications such as turning it into a loan at some point. It then encourages people to go back to work,” DeMint said. “The biggest problem I have, Hugh, is we don’t need a temporary economy, which means we don’t need a temporary tax rate. A permanent extension of our current tax rates would allow businesses to plan five and ten years in advance, and that’s how you build an economy.”

Even the estate tax provision – which has enraged liberals because it would cut the scheduled increase in the estate tax from 55 percent to 35 percent and only apply it to estates valued at over $5 million – doesn’t satisfy DeMint.

“It raises the death tax,” DeMint says, presumably because this year, in an anomaly, the estate tax is zero percent.

<SNIP>

[bigtree]

4. he wants a bigger, longer upper-income tax extension

. . . are you now a fan of his?

[emulatorloo]

12. Also wants to turn unemployment benefits into a "Loan Program"

“I don’t think we need to extend unemployment any further without paying for it, and without making some modifications such as turning it into a loan at some point. It then encourages people to go back to work,” DeMint said. “The biggest problem I have, Hugh, is we don’t need a temporary economy, which means we don’t need a temporary tax rate. A permanent extension of our current tax rates would allow businesses to plan five and ten years in advance, and that’s how you build an economy.”

I have a link in my post above.