Republicans have once again demonstrated that they are the party...

[PLATO]

Not really. I'm bored as fuck. I was thinking about the Stanley Parable. But you can't really murder pedestrians in that game.

GTA still not working?

[Imran Siddiqui]

PLATO pretends like he's reasonable.

Yep... while spewing bull****. But I think he's mostly trolling, so I may give him a pass.

[Sava]

PLATO: Where was all this concern about the debt during Reagan? or Bush I? or Bush II? And why don't I ever see you praising Clinton for balancing the budget?

It just makes it hard to take anything you say seriously. You sound like a partisan hack.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

STOP IT

Daddy Guy. Telling the kids to be respectful and quiet.

[PLATO]

Yep... while spewing bull****. But I think he's mostly trolling, so I may give him a pass.

Shhhh.

Damn you!

[Imran Siddiqui]

I certainly hope so. If they had backed down they'd have show that blackmail is a working strategy, and it would have been done every year by whichever party was in the minority. Your countries credit rating would end up further downgraded, you'd end up losing your reserve currency status and you could all sit and enjoy being poorer, less significant and still wildly in debt. Wouldn't that be fun.

I'm still somewhat in shock that Obama found his spine.

[Sava]

GTA still not working?

I've given up on it. I'll try GTA 5 again when it's on PC... probably some time in 2014.

[kentonio]

I'd have given them exactly nothing and made it quite clear that when you hold a gun against the head of the American people that you will give not one inch.

As for negotiating, if you go to buy a new car and your opening offer is 'I want it for free, and I also want to you to move your office to a location more convenient for me', the chance are you're going to get laughed out of the building. Basically exactly what happened when the conservatives opening position was that the Dems should agree to defund the Presidents signature legislation.

The reason I'm getting pissed at you, is because you're usually reasonable. Yet this time even though half of the damn Republican party themselves have publicly and openly said it was a stupid, wildly irresponsible thing to do, you're still sitting there going 'No, Dems bad'.

No GOP moderates thought this was anything other than stupid, so why the hell are you aligning yourself with the likes of Ted Cruz ffs?

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

I'm still somewhat in shock that Obama found his spine.

He always knew his true enemy.

[PLATO]

PLATO: Where was all this concern about the debt during Reagan? or Bush I? or Bush II? And why don't I ever see you praising Clinton for balancing the budget?

It just makes it hard to take anything you say seriously. You sound like a partisan hack.

I did support this when Reagan was in office. I admit that. At the time, I felt that it was a temporary and necessary thing. I have since changed my mind.

If you will look back over the years here though, you will see that I clearly railed on Bush about his excessive spending. Just because I supported some other things Bush did does not mean that I supported the enormous amount of debt that he incurred.

Equally, I have tried to give Obama credit for some things that I believe he has done well. Fiscal responsibility isn't one of them.

[kentonio]

I'm still somewhat in shock that Obama found his spine.

You and me both, there was a point where WH talks got mentioned and I was sure he'd pussied out again.

[PLATO]

I'd have given them exactly nothing and made it quite clear that when you hold a gun against the head of the American people that you will give not one inch.

As for negotiating, if you go to buy a new car and your opening offer is 'I want it for free, and I also want to you to move your office to a location more convenient for me', the chance are you're going to get laughed out of the building. Basically exactly what happened when the conservatives opening position was that the Dems should agree to defund the Presidents signature legislation.

The reason I'm getting pissed at you, is because you're usually reasonable. Yet this time even though half of the damn Republican party themselves have publicly and openly said it was a stupid, wildly irresponsible thing to do, you're still sitting there going 'No, Dems bad'.

No GOP moderates thought this was anything other than stupid, so why the hell are you aligning yourself with the likes of Ted Cruz ffs?

Whoa! I think the strategy was stupid.

My rail is on the fact that once it was implemented that the democrats showed their colors and let everyone know that default was okay with them...as long as they won in the polls.

All of this could be avoided if BOTH sides would negotiate in good faith.

Had we actually defaulted, I would blame the Republicans more than the Democrats as they are the ones that brought the strategy to the table. In the end, they showed it was merely a bluff to force negotiations on very real and very pressing problems. In the end, the Democrats showed that they cared more for political gain than for the future of the country. So yes, I am pissed about that.

If someone held a gun to your own head and said let's talk about our problems and your response was "No, go ahead and shoot." That would be pretty stupid wouldn't it?

[PLATO]

I'm still somewhat in shock that Obama found his spine.

He has always had a political spine. He has rarely had a Presidential one.

[Sava]

[kentonio]

If someone held a gun to your own head and said let's talk about our problems and your response was "No, go ahead and shoot." That would be pretty stupid wouldn't it?

No, it's like someone holding a grenade and threatening to pull the pin, if it goes off, they get hit by the blast too. The only way that threat has any weight is if you believe the other person is crazy and suicidal, and the Dems rightly gambled that there weren't nearly enough crazies in the GOP to let it go that far.