Republican 'counter offer' is to continue holding middle class tax cuts hostage

Apparently Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner didn't get the message'from the voters on November 6 or from President Obama who has repeatedly said that keeping the tax cuts for the rich is a non-starter:

Dem source tells me a big reason last night's POTUS/Boehner call was tense: GOP counter included permanent extension of tax cuts for wealthy
' @DanaBashCNN via web

more: Dem source says gop offer of permanent tax cuts for top 2% is sign to WH that GOP "unwilling" or "unable" to cut a deal that can pass
' @DanaBashCNN via web

And so, tax cuts for 98% of all Americans continue to be held hostage by House Republicans.

9:08 AM PT (Joan McCarter): Boehner's camp denies this, sort of.

Boehner replied to a White House offer on the fiscal cliff Monday with a counter-offer of is own on Tuesday, and spokesman Brendan Buck says it included a call for comprehensive tax reform, and not a permanent extension of tax cuts for the wealthy, as a White House official told ABC News's Jake Tapper.

"No, that's deliberately-misleading [White House] spin," Buck told BuzzFeed in response to Tapper's tweet." Our goal, as Boehner has made clear repeatedly and publicly, is a framework for comprehensive tax reform."

Tax "reform" isn't the issue. The issue is the permanent tax cuts for the top 2 percent, which apparently was still in the Republican deal. Unspecified tax "reform," messing around with tax credits, deductions, and loopholes isn't going to cut it.