basis for a compromise. if you are serious is that smart? they are smart enough to play that game but they re going to say if you are serious about deficits, you cannot leave taxes off the table. will the congress ever adopt a combination of some modification or cost cutting, which we know has to come to place, somehow squeeze the medical costs and a tax increase for people that can afford it as a more democratic, a more fair way to deal with this problem? will they get that through and signed by the president or is that just a posture? i think it s a possibility but they ll be glad to talk about it the next few months. the one thing the president doesn t want to do is talk about tax increases in isolation. fair enough. i m with you. as richard was çsaying, tha won t work for democrats, even if you tax rich people. you have to put it in the context of a plan. so the plan is the president says, look, let them offer a big slash in medicare which is going to kill half
the stakes in the budget fight. let s listen to david. i think the president s goal and he s been clear about this is to protect the middle class as we move forward here. so people like him who have been very fortunate in life have the ability to pay a little bit more. now, urnl the republican congressional plan, people over $250,000 get over a trillion dollars in tax relief. this is the important thing, you re making a choice. you re asking seniors and the middle class to pay more. suppose they make them make that choice on the debt ceiling thing. republicans say nice try, try raising taxes to pay for the debt ceiling. hang on a second, they re going to have a debate about the bush era tax cuts all the way through the next year and a half because they ll expire at the end of the 2012 election cycle. so this debate will not end right now. even if paul ryan s budget was adopted, republicans would have to vote to raise the debt ceiling. they have to raise the debt ceiling whoever i