What happens if we go over the fiscal cliff?
A "Democrat orgasm," according to Rush Limbaugh.
Limbaugh took a hit at Obama while addressing the topic of the ongoing fiscal cliff negotiations on his radio show:
"So you say, 'Okay, why would he want to go over the cliff?' Well, what happens when we go over the cliff? A Democrat orgasm happens. Taxes go up for everybody. That’s nirvana to these people. Taxes go up on everybody on January 1st, in all kinds of ways: income, payroll, Obamacare, taxes go up for everybody. And then, after that, guess what Obama gets to do? He gets to call a national speech to the nation and blame the Republicans for it, and then come out for tax cuts."
The Obama Administration delivered a proposal to Congress earlier this week that offered to avert the fiscal cliff by raising $1.6 trillion in new taxes, in exchange for some $400 billion in cuts to entitlement programs to be negotiated next year. Republicans reacted angrily to the proposal, delivered by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.
HuffPost's Ryan Grim reported earlier:
What surprised Republicans wasn't the newest offer, but who delivered it. The original offer, delivered by Obama, simply wasn't taken seriously. Republicans assumed that Obama's initial offer floated to congressional leaders would go like many others he's made in the past, and quickly soften amid staff talks. That seemed to be happening, which left them taken by surpise by Geithner. Acknowledging that Thursday's offer was essentially the same as the one presented by the president, a GOP aide said that White House "staff has been back-channeling flexibility up until now. This was the first time their staff echoed his fantasyland numbers." A second senior GOP aide called Thursday's offer "a more detailed version" of Obama's. "The day after the White House meeting, we gave them our framework. It took them 10 days for them to give us theirs and it didn't reflect any of the conversations we have had since then," he said.
A source involved in the talks provided HuffPost with a GOP summary of the White House offer as presented Thursday. A Democratic source involved in the talks confirmed that it accurately reflects the offer, adding that it's "no different than what was discussed last Friday."
"My question is do the Republicans actually think they are going to get anywhere in moving public opinion with press conferences in the Capitol compared to POTUS, who will be flying across the country to deliver his message," he said. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) "are relegated to dealing with Geithner while POTUS delivers his message far and wide."
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