Top Story: The key to Republicans’ strategy on the sequester fights is to for President Obama to take the lion’s share of the blame if the full cuts take effect. Turns out voters aren’t buying it.
- If Republicans want proof that they’re right and President Obama is wrong when it comes to public opinion on the sequester cuts…well…they better not read this new Bloomberg poll. (Bloomberg)
- A Pew Poll largely confirms the one by Bloomberg and also adds this detail: 76% want a combination of spending cuts and tax increases. (Pew Research)
- The state of “negotiations” so far: Republicans have “yet to propose ANY kind of compromise that recognizes they don’t control the White House or the U.S. Senate. By contrast, Obama has offered up entitlement cuts…and he has indicated a willingness to make additional cuts to Medicare.” (First Read)
- In an editorial entitled “So Be It.” the editors of National Review say, essentially, “take the plunge.” (National Review)
- “Argument over who ‘owns’ sequester is too dumb for words. Congress passed it, president signed it into law.” (John Harwood)
- “Question for fellow Republicans: If as you say the sequester was a trap set by President Obama, why are you so determined to spring it?” (David Frum)
- A thorough explanation of the damage the sequester cuts could exact. (Wonkblog)
- Some federal workers face up to a 20% pay cut if the sequester isn’t fixed. (The Washington Post)
- The silver lining to the sequester? “If there is sequester, the traffic in DC won’t be so bad.” (Steven A. Cook)
- “It would be a mistake to assume that Obama’s emphasis on the need to avert the sequester means that he believes that a deal can be made to do that between now and March 1. He doesn’t.” (The Fix)
- Republicans want tax cuts, not tax hikes. But a few conservatives recognize the problem with the “tax cuts” portion of that message: Republicans “slavishly adhere to the economic program that Reagan developed to meet the challenges of the late 1970s and early 1980s, ignoring the fact that he largely overcame those challenges, and now we have new ones.” (Ramesh Ponnuru)
John Flowers