Smart Move By GOP

From TPM:

Lawmakers sealed the deal late Wednesday night on yearlong extensions of the payroll tax cut, unemployment compensation and Medicare physician payment rates. It’s a political victory for President Obama and the conclusion of a no-win situation for Republicans that they were eager to move past.

The agreement was announced by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) and Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), the two lead negotiators in conference committee. Final votes are expected by the end of this weekend.

The conclusion comes at the end of a grueling series of negotiations that spilled over from last year. That led House Republicans to this week drop their demand that the payroll tax cut be offset with spending cuts elsewhere, paving the way for the agreement as the two sides had been deadlocked on pay-fors.

Although a definite win for Obama, this does help the GOP in the long run because Republicans have never been able to adequately explain why tax cuts for the middle class have to be offset by spending cuts while tax cuts for the rich need not be paid for. I think some folks in the GOP finally saw the Big Picture -- i.e., they realized that the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire at the end of the year, and it was therefore probably unwise for them to insist that tax cuts be paid for.

And now back to our regularly-scheduled program about how Republicans are fucking idiots:

I still can't believe that the GOP is trying to make contraception into a wedge issue. That's a losing battle for them, and it doesn't help that morons like Santorum-supporter Foster Friess are out there talking about it.