To all those who have been telling us for months . . .

[markpkessinger]

68. This isn't "disinformation"

. . . Look, back when it was just news reports based on what some reliable sources were saying about the President's intentions, those of us who expressed concern were told, in effect, "There's no offer on the table yet, so everybody calm down." Then, when chained CPI appeared as part of the President's intial offer -- on the White House's website no less -- we were told, "This is just a negotiating tactic. Everybody calm down." Now it has been offered in a serious wau again, at a time when both parties are under a great deal of pressure to come to an agreement (thanks to the sequester, which was another very ill-conceived move by the President)f. Now we're in the position of having to hope like hell Republicans don't suddenly wake up and realize they're being offered something they've wanted all along. But hey, you say, don't panic. Well, I have news for you: if we DON'T panic now, and raise the alarm big time, and it turns out the Obama apologists were right, then the worst that will happen is that we will have gotten upset for nothing. On the other hand, if those of us who are really concerned about this turn out to be right, and if we follow your advice the thing will be a done deal and there won't be a damned thing any of us can do about it at that point. I'm sorry, but I don't think this is a time for complacency merely in the service of not offending one another.