Tim, the problem is you have such a hard on for the Tea Party that you have lost all objectivity in this thread. You are like a doll with one of those pull strings in its back that can only say three different phrases.
The bottom line is there are no winners or losers here (well, other than the American people losing again). A deal will get done. Both sides will claim they won something or got something done. Americans, with their attention spans of gnats, will move on to the next subject and a year from now we will be discussing the next big political "thing".
CNN/ORC poll from earlier this week:
63% of those polled were angry at the GOP
57% of those polled were equally angry at the Dems
53% of those polled also blamed the President.
These numbers were also echoed by a Pew poll.
The WSJ/NBC Poll and many,many others have waaayy different numbers that were extremely damning to the GOP. See how each side can cherry pick their numbers to substantiate their legitimacy or their position?
And keep this quote in mind from ABC News:
"Overall, views now look very much like those after the government shutdowns in 1995-96. In ABC/Post polling in January 1996, Bill Clinton had a 42-50 percent score for handling the situation, the Republicans in Congress 20-74 percent. Neither seemed to much impact the 1996 election 10 months later, in which Clinton won re-election but the Republicans held the House and Senate alike"
I know you are hoping with all your might that this is some kind of continuing mandate, but this country has been down this road before and in the grand scheme of our political history, this is nothing but a blip.
Court Jester, you were one of the handful of conservatives in this forum that criticized what the House was doing when this crisis first started, and I respect you greatly for that. Of course I am biased against the Tea Party. Of course I want them to be discredited and repudiated. So I am hopeful that happens. If it does not, it does not.
I am opposed to the Democrats' economic policies as a general rule. I would like a centrist, moderate Republican party which continued to press for free trade,
slashing corporate tax rates, reforming entitlements, making it easier for start up companies and technologies with less red tape restrictions, but also is more open to immigration concerns, social issues, and in general is able to compromise with the other side to achieve big things. In order to have the sort of political party I would support, the Tea Party people have to be defeated.