This is politics: No permanent friends | No permanent enemies.

[sabrina 1]

68. Any deal that includes SS cuts should be DOA to a Democrat.

SS had zero to do with the deficit, cutting benefits will do nothing to help lower the deficit, this is merely a right wing lie and by accepting Democrats are feeding the decades old lies told about SS by the Right in this country. It is 'austerity' under a different name and will do to this country what it is doing to sovereign nations in Europe.

Once Dems make it clear that SS is off the table, then they can get serious. And the way to lower the deficit is to create jobs, end the wars which cost millions of dollars EACH DAY which we seem to have no problem finding. If we go over the phony 'cliff', the Bush tax cuts will expire, that alone will help lower the deficit.

Then we will have the new congress elected in November where Dems have control of the Senate and the WH and have gained at least 9 seats in the House, and we can start working on cutting the spending that actually caused the Deficit.

So yes, as someone said 'no deal is better than a bad deal'. Go over the 'cliff' and hands off SS.