Richie: I think you're right AND wrong.

Democrats gaming the system for political advantage? No question. It's all a game to BOTH parties inside the Beltway.

But I think you're wrong in thinkink that the goal is to make the Republican break their No Taxes pledge. I think the goal, if I were to put on my Sinister Black Hat, would be to say "Ok, fine - what do you cut?" and when the republicans finally DO come up with something it falls into one of two categories: 1) It's not nearly enough (you just can't get the cash from discretionary spending) or 2) You're cutting vital services and starving people (with some added bluster for good measure). With #2, you get the people all riled up and they come out with torches and pitchforks at the next election.

The problem with the Republicans is that pledge - it offers no room for compromise - something which the so-called patron saint of the current GOP, Ronald Reagan, was a master at.

So here they want to emulate Reagan without being allowed half the tools in Reagan's playbook. IMO, they've allowed themselves to be painted into a corner.

And, just for the record, please remember that I voted for Reagan as many times as I was legally allowed. He was the first President I ever voted for (as I turned 18 in 1980).

Of course, if you want to start a separate topic for where we'll "get" the trillion dollars to close the deficit, I'm more than ready to hear what you have to say. Someone posted a long list quite some time ago that added up to next to nothing because it didn't hit the Big Three in the budget (well, there's really a Big Four, but you can't just eliminate the interest on the public debt).