The CBO awards him more deficit reduction than Boehner! The key issue is whether the proposed winding down of the $4 trillion wars in Afghanistan and Iraq should be counted. Some are saying it's a gimmick for the Dems, but Paul Ryan relied on it. I have to say that putting massively expensive wars off-budget seems more gimmicky than putting them on-budget. They have to be paid for, after all. And peace dividends are real – as we saw in the 1990s.
Of course, Reid's proposal, in most known parts of the universe, is a conservative's dream: all spending cuts and no tax increases, with a combined savings of something like $2.2 trillion over the next decade. And so one faces an interesting dilemma: can the GOP declare victory if Reid's plan is the most viable? Or are they truly the foam-flecked fanatics they appear to be? Are they in this for substance or merely for destroying this president, whatever it takes?
The Dish 