THIS LIBERAL SAYS: JUST RENEW ALL THE DAMN BUSH TAX CUTS PERMANENTLY

Yes, I mean it. Why? Well, first, here's some totally unsurprising news:

At his post-shellacking press conference this afternoon, President Obama said that he'll sit down with Democratic and Republican congressional leaders before the end of the year to reach a compromise on extending the Bush tax cuts.

... today Obama signaled that, in the wake of the election, he will not force a showdown over tax cuts for the wealthy. He's counting on the GOP to accept a compromise, but just today Speaker-to-be John Boehner reiterated the Republican position that all tax cuts should be renewed.

That leaves three likely options:

1. The middle-income cuts will be extended permanently, and the higher-income cuts extended temporarily.
2. All the cuts will be extended temporarily, and the whole fight will play itself out again in a couple years.
3. The White House and GOP will reach an impasse and all the tax cuts will expire.

Option #3 is simply not going to happen. Democrats will give in to Republicans; they won't play chicken.

But I don't even want them to bother with temporary measures -- they should just renew everything forever. Why make them temporary again? They're currently temporary. But if Democrats wouldn't repeal the tax cuts for the rich with a 77-seat majority in the House and a 19-seat majority in the Senate, and with the polls in their favor, and with a desperate need to do something popular in the weeks before a perilous set of midterm elections, then under what bloody circumstances would they ever repeal them?

So just make them permanent, Democrats. At least that way you spare yourself another moment, sometime in the future, when Republicans will demagogue you on this, and you'll give in yet again.