[White House] Officials also argued that enough enticements and penalties are in place to secure an effective super committee. They said members of Congress would likely recoil at the gamesmanship involved in shelving the committee's recommendations and therefore feel compelled to place well-intentioned lawmakers on the committee. One White House Official said Republicans would be unlikely to stack the committee with Tea Party members, "because they have the same incentives. The worse case scenario for Republicans, if you don't want tax increases, is to have it end up in a place where the committee fails. They do not want the committee to fail."

There's not much to say about this except ... really? Really??

I want to know what planet this White House Official has been on where the Republicans would "recoil at gamesmanship" or be "unlikely" to stack a committee with ideologues.

I don't even have a decent response to this—it's just too silly. Once again, administration negotiators have given far-right Republicans nearly everything they demanded under the absolutely bizarre impression that next time around, they'll be more reasonable, or that next time around, the Republicans won't be able to take hostages that the Democrats find unpalatable.

It's a game of chess in which one player cannot look forward to more than one move at a time, steadfastly refusing to even contemplate what moves the other player might make in response.

