Who is this 'source familiar with the negotiations' and how do we know they're credible?

[bigtree]

Who is 'the person?'

The 'source' or the 'person' who is identified in these reports about a 'new offer' from the WH is shrouded in secrecy, and the republican 'response' which is reported looks to be a direct one from the republican leadership.


from TPM: http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-makes-boehner-new-offer?ref=fpa

The details, via a source familiar with the negotiations, include: a movement on revenue demands to $1.2 trillion from an initial $1.6 trillion, a permanent extension of Bush-era tax rates for incomes less than $400,000 (Obama initially set the threshold at $250,000), $1.2 trillion in spending cuts, a "fast track process" for corporate and individual tax reform once the new Congress convenes, permanent extension of tax extenders and the alternative minimum tax, an extension of unemployment benefits set to expire at the end of the year, additional stimulus in the form of infrastructure spending and a two-year debt limit increase.

The White House proposal would also allow the payroll tax cut to expire, and call for $130 billion in savings from Social Security benefits by adjusting the program's inflation index. The offer would include protections for the most vulnerable recipients, the person said.

Boehner's office welcomed the offer as positive movement, yet still characterized it as an unbalanced proposal.

See what's happening here is that the administration is being represented by a strawman and the republicans are being directly represented in this report.

How the hell is anyone supposed to have ANY confidence in such a poorly sourced, slanted report as this one? It boggles my mind to read so many folks talking this as gospel; accepting our Democratic President's side from a secretive source and being fed the republican side right from their mouths and eating it up like candy.

This is just sloppy and disgusting reporting and it's sad to see so many here writing breathless criticisms of the WH and the President based on such garbage.

[elleng]

1. Quite right,

and a lot of unpleasantness around here.

[CakeGrrl]

2. Remember, part of your audience has been waiting

for the President to destroy the social safety net. It seems some are looking for ANY indicator that they'll be proven right.

As far as I'm concerned, there is no "deal" until the terms are formally announced. Anything else is sketchy speculation to occupy people's spare time.

Let the doomsday hysterics commence.

[bigtree]

7. I'd go with a 'WH source'

. . . or a 'WH spokesperson'

This reporting looks like it assumes readers will discern the value of their info by the source they present, but they make no effort at all to explain the currency of the 'people' they are apparently quoting (I say 'apparently' because they don't really have a clear quote in this report).

It's a slippery and, I think, deliberately misleading report designed to spark the exact reactions we've seen here in its wake.

[CakeGrrl]

8. If you look at the HuffPo lede right this second, you see what's ginning up the hysteria.

It's the flipside of Fox News convincing their viewers that Romney was going to win.

HuffPo whips up the doubters on the left into believing the worst about POTUS.

[HiPointDem]

9. also being reported in the NYT, WAPO, WSJ & LA Times.

[bigtree]

10. same bullshit sourcing

can you read?

'person familiar with the negotiations' for the WH version

'republican office' for the opposition 'response'

That's probably as good a source you need to spread your brand of half-truths and speculation, but it's still a bullshit source for anyone concerned with the actual truth.

[Skittles]

3. I agree

[JDPriestly]

4. Obama would be a fool to cut Social Security or Medicare.

The American people don't want to see those programs cut. And for good reason.

Young people know that their elderly grandparents and parents are just barely getting buy on Social Security and that if Medicare and Social Security did not exist, the young people would have to pay to take care of their parents.

Everybody wins when seniors have Medicare and Social Security.

If we want to cut our expenditures, we should cut our military bases overseas and stop hiring private contractors, especially those private contractors who hire citizens of other countries including the countries that host the bases.

Bring our soldiers home. Leave Medicare and Social Security alone.

[bigtree]

5. moreover, Congress isn't about to cut those benefits either

It makes no sense to imagine that Pres. Obama is going to bring a dead-on-arrival package of cuts to the Democratic leadership to sell to the legislators. Pelosi and Reid are the best indicators of where the 'deal' will end up, not secret sources 'familiar' with the negotiations.

[Bluestar]

6. Ezra Klein---just last week was breathlessly reporting that

Medicare eligibility would go up to 67. Turned out to be false.