Let's Pretend.

[cali]

Let's pretend this deal isn't as bad as it is. (hey, it could be marginally worse)

Let's pretend there are no cuts to entitlements.

Let's pretend it doesn't hit the middle class like a sledge hammer.

Let's pretend it doesn't effect the unemployed or the elderly or the disabled or the poor.

Let's pretend that the super committee will eagerly recommend raising taxes on the wealthy.

Let's pretend that the drastic cuts that will take place automatically if the Committee's recommendations aren't adopted won't happen.

Let's pretend that this was the best deal that the dems could get.

Let's pretend that President Obama "finessed" the republicans- or outsmarted them, or whatever.

Let's pretend that this deal doesn't presage the slashing and burning of the social safety net, of education, of environmental protection, of the department of the Interior.

Let's just pretend.

[OhioChick]

1. Rec n/t

[readmoreoften]

2. Yup, that's the con. And they all figured out the talking points spontaneously too.

It's like DLC Karma: they all just know what points to hit over and over. Then again it usually is the same old routine:

Step One: Cave, but do some tiny thing that your followers can blast all over the internet like "cuts to Medicare, sure, but no copay on birth control!!11!!"
Step Two: Displace all the real nasty shit to another vote. When the progressive intellectuals, writers, and economists figure out your game, claim "What!? What! It didn't even happen! All speculation!"
Step Three: When the real cuts come in, blame the Republicans and revisit Step One.
Step Four: Get your followers to agree that the horrible shit you just did and that they just denied is actually good. (ex. torture is unfortunately necessary, nuthin' wrong with a few well-placed cuts, I always supported the war against Afghanistan, NAFTA has its benefits, unions shouldn't be able to strongarm people, etc.)

[Tatiana]

3. We have to elect a better Congress in order to save the President from himself.

And to save OURSELVES from the President's negotiation skills (or lack thereof).

Anyone thinking that medical providers are going to stop accepting new patients with Medicare are surely pretending.