this is radio tabs

Politics is the art of the possible and one needs to keep their eye on the prize. Given that the Republicans only control one 1/2 of 1/3 of the government the prize for the Republicans is to win back the other 1/2 of Congress and the White House in 2012, so that they can enact their agenda of fiscal restraint. Therefore the goal of the Republicans in the Debt Ceiling Increase negotiations was to get as many concessions on reducing the deficit as possible from the Democrats while positioning themselves favorably for the 2012 elections. To this end the Republicans exacted the essential concession from the Democrats in not having revenues increased. However the trick for the Republicans was in not appearing to be unreasonable and self righteous in their demands. This they failed to accomplish when the financial markets started to seriously erode because of their continuing to press for their demand of Cut, Cap and Balance. At that point the Tea Party Republicans should have become aware of the exigencies of the situation and bent a knee to compromise. At that point they had won major concessions and had good position for the 2012 election. As it stands, they are now perceived in the world as being willing to let their house burn down in order to achieve their single minded agenda. This is a failure in keeping ones eye on the prize of achieving a larger goal and shows poor leadership capabilities in that one has to be adaptable and or flexible in meeting the exigencies of material events.

Upon hearing the VP Biden and Liberal Democrat comments about the Tea Party being "Terrorists" one thinks that the Tea Party should not take offense but understand that they have been affective in achieving their goal of exacting concessions from that party. As for the Democrats making those comments, they sound exactly like spoiled little children who didn't get their way.