memeorandum: Republicans Lash Out At Obama, Even As Fiscal Cliff Deal Close At Hand (Brian Beutler/Talking Points Memo)

5:50 PM ET, December 31, 2012

Top Items:

Why Is Obama Caving on Taxes? — The discouraging thing about the “fiscal cliff” negotiations is not that they have gone into the eleventh hour, or that they may go into the new year, or even that they won't resolve the long-term budget deficit. It's that President Obama has retreated on his hard line on taxes.

Discussion: Paul Krugman, The Plum Line, The New Republic, Slate, PostPartisan, Business Insider, The Daily Dish, theGrio, The Week, Lawyers, Guns & Money, Washington Post, Wonkblog, Prairie Weather and Post Politics

Ezra Klein / Wonkblog:

Why the White House thinks it's winning the ‘fiscal cliff’ — Consider the ongoing fiscal cliff negotiations from the White House's perspective. — The specifics of the potential McConnell-Biden deal are fluid, but the bottom line, at the moment, seems to be this: It raises taxes …

Discussion: The Atlantic Online, Washington Examiner, The Maddow Blog, Booman Tribune and Brad DeLong

Sam Stein / The Huffington Post:

Fiscal Cliff Deal Growing More Likely, Would Raise $715 Billion In Revenue … REACT: — FOLLOW: — Bush Tax Cuts, Video, Boehner Fiscal Cliff, Fiscal Cliff, Fiscal Cliff Deal, Fiscal Cliff Tax Revenues, Fiscal Cliff Taxes, Obama Fiscal Cliff, Obama Fiscal Cliff Deal, Tax Hikes, Politics News

Discussion: Firedoglake, Washington Monthly, The Plum Line, Daily Download, The Gateway Pundit, Post Politics and Mashable!

Matthew O'Brien / The Atlantic Online:

The Estate Tax Is a Huge Giveaway in the Fiscal-Cliff Talks — It will cost us $375 billion over the next decade if we keep the estate tax from going back to its Clinton-era levels. That's twice the savings from switching to chained CPI. — (Reuters) — It's time to talk …

Discussion: Hullabaloo, Wonkblog and Post Politics

Politico:

Fiscal cliff: Major progress toward deal — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Vice President Joe Biden engaged in furious overnight negotiations to avert the fiscal cliff and made major progress toward a year-end tax deal, giving sudden hope to high-stakes talks …

Discussion: CNN, MarketWatch, TIME, The Fix, The Moderate Voice, ABCNEWS, The Week, Daily Kos, Washington Examiner, Taylor Marsh, Firedoglake, Business Insider and Fox News

bigstory.ap.org:

AP SOURCES: ‘FISCAL CLIFF’ DEAL EMERGING — You are here — Home » United States Congress » AP Sources: ‘Fiscal cliff’ deal emerging — WASHINGTON (AP) — The contours of a deal to avert the ‘fiscal cliff’ emerged Monday, with Democrats and Republicans agreeing to raise tax rates …

Discussion: The New Republic, Weekly Standard, Power Line, Wake up America, Firedoglake, National Review, Weasel Zippers and Cold Fury

Timothy Noah / The New Republic:

Kill This Deal … Dear House and Senate Democrats, — Your president has sold you out. A deal will likely be announced today canceling the scheduled income-tax increase on all family income below $450,000, instead of the promised $250,000 threshold, which was already too high.

Discussion: The Huffington Post, Wonkblog, EconoSpeak, Post Politics, The Raw Story, Wake up America and Michelle Malkin

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:

Republicans Lash Out At Obama, Even As Fiscal Cliff Deal Close At Hand — Republicans reacted immediately and with tremendous hostility to President Obama's remarks at the White House Monday afternoon, and accused him of jeopardizing a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff.

Discussion: Politico, The Daily Caller and The Daily Banter

CBS News:

Finally, a “fiscal cliff” breakthrough — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner says any potential deal will have to include a tax hike on the upper 2 percent of income earners. But Geithner says the biggest obstacle is Republicans who refuse to budge. Anna Werner reports on how close the parties are in reaching a deal.

Discussion: For What It's Worth and Outside the Beltway

Brian Beutler / Talking Points Memo:
McConnell's Latest Gambit Is A Big Tax And Debt Limit Tell

Discussion: Daily Kos

Dana Bash / CNN:
Harkin: Democrats unhappy; “We may object” to suggested deal

Discussion: Talking Points Memo, The Huffington Post, Hot Air and Post Politics

Deirdre Walsh / CNN:
TRENDING: House unlikely to vote on any deal until after cliff deadline

Discussion: Politico and Taegan Goddard's …

Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
2 Sides in Talks Inch Closer but No Fiscal Deal on Final Day

Discussion: Alan Colmes'Alan Colmes', The Daily Dish and CNN

Katie Glueck / Politico:
Grover Norquist: Tax rates won't increase

Discussion: The Raw Story and Outside the Beltway

Joshua Green / Business Week:
On the Fiscal Cliff, Republicans Are Blowing a Great Deal

Discussion: Paul Krugman, Hot Air, The Maddow Blog, Business Insider, The Mahablog and New York Times

First Read:
First Thoughts: Farewell to the 112th Congress

Discussion: Cagle.com Premium Cartoon News and msnbc.com

Jamelle Bouie / The Plum Line:
Have Democrats lost their leverage on the fiscal cliff?

Discussion: Wonkblog, Washington Post, Hullabaloo and Daily Kos

Kevin Robillard / Politico:
Steny Hoyer cool to compromise

Discussion: Weasel Zippers

The European / The European Union Times:

Clinton Injured, US Navy Seal Killed In Secret US Mission To Iran — A new Foreign Military Intelligence (GRU) report circulating in the Kremlin today is saying that United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton [photo 2nd right] was injured, and a top US Navy Seal Commander killed …

Discussion: Weekly Standard and KTLA 5

Kevin Robillard / Politico:
NBC reporter raises Hillary Clinton questions

Discussion: Weasel Zippers and The Hinterland Gazette

Frank Newport / Gallup:
Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama Most Admired in 2012

Discussion: The Daily Caller, The Fix, Politico, The Greenroom, msnbc.com, Washington Examiner and First Read

Ann Althouse / Althouse:
What's Happening to Hillary? Only a clod would say the clot is a plot!

Discussion: Associated Press, Daily Mail, Fox News, The Daily Beast, The New Civil Rights Movement, Wonkette, The Raw Story, Hot Air, Washington Wire, Fausta's Blog and The Daily Dish

BuzzFeed:
8 People Who Thought Hillary Clinton Was Faking Her Concussion

Washington Post:

(APPLAUSE) — Thank you. Please, everybody have a seat. — Well, good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to the White House. — (UNKNOWN): Thank you for having us. — (LAUGHTER) — OBAMA: Now I realize that the last thing you want to hear on New Year's Eve is another speech from me …

Discussion: Firedoglake, The National Memo and Greg Mankiw's Blog

Suzy Khimm / Wonkblog:
Obama's wrong: This ‘cliff’ deal still raises taxes on the middle class

Discussion: TalkLeft, Business Insider and Post Politics

Amie Parnes / The Hill:
Obama says fiscal-cliff deal on taxes ‘in sight’ but not done yet

Discussion: CNN

Daniel Halper / Weekly Standard:
Obama: 'Looks Like I'm Going to Be Spending New Year's Here in D.C.'

Discussion: Weasel Zippers, Ace of Spades HQ and Jammie Wearing Fools

Louis Michael Seidman / New York Times:

Let's Give Up on the Constitution — AS the nation teeters at the edge of fiscal chaos, observers are reaching the conclusion that the American system of government is broken. But almost no one blames the culprit: our insistence on obedience to the Constitution, with all its archaic, idiosyncratic and downright evil provisions.

Don Kaplan / NY Daily News:

Political commentator Sean Hannity was one of the big losers in the 2012 election — The right-wing Fox News host lost half his audience in the weeks after Obama's win — Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity had predicted President Obama would lose in a landslide.

Discussion: Politico, The National Memo and The Hinterland Gazette

New York Post:

Greenwich Village couple busted with cache of weapons, bombmaking explosives: sources — The privileged daughter of a prominent city doctor, and her boyfriend — a Harvard grad and Occupy Wall Street activist — have been busted for allegedly having a cache of weapons and a bombmaking explosive in their Greenwich Village apartment.

Discussion: seattlepi.com, TalkLeft, JustOneMinute, Weasel Zippers, The Lonely Conservative, Gawker, Wizbang, The Greenroom and Small Dead Animals

James Bovard / Wall Street Journal:

How the ‘Dairy Cliff’ Will Cream Consumers — Got milk? Enjoy the price you paid, because federal policy, reaching its sell-by date, will have dire results. — If the price of milk zooms up shortly after Jan. 1, the increase will come courtesy of a venal and feckless U.S. Congress.

Discussion: msnbc.com, Hit & Run and For What It's Worth

David Rogers / Politico:
Farm bill fate still up in the air

Discussion: Daily Kos

James Taranto / Wall Street Journal:

Long Walks, Short Piers — The media's attacks on the Second Amendment—and on the First. — America once produced its own bumptious television hosts. Men like Phil Donahue, Wally George, Morton Downey Jr. and Geraldo Rivera did rough and degrading work, but at least they knew the dignity of having a job.

Discussion: The Gateway Pundit and “The Lid”