“Republicans used to be interested in not running continual rivers of red ink. If that meant raising taxes a little bit, we always raised taxes a little bit. But nowadays taxes are like leprosy and they can’t be used for anything, and so Republicans have denied themselves any bargaining power.”

— Former Rep. William Frenzel (R-MN), quoted by the New York Times.

The New York Times notes the last time any Congressional Republican voted for a tax increase was for the budget deal crafted in 1990.

“The conservative revolt against that 1990 legislation — and against President George Bush, who violated his own ‘Read my lips’ vow not to increase taxes — was a seminal moment for Republicans. The party of balanced budgets became the party that opposed tax increases.”

“Republicans continue to embrace the no-new-taxes stand as a centerpiece of the party’s identity, even in the face of public opinion that strongly supports tax increases on high incomes. And some Republicans fear that the party’s commitment to prevent tax increases more and more is coming at the expense of those other, older kinds of fiscal responsibility.”

John Dickerson notes Republicans had two major setbacks in rapid succession: Speaker John Boehner’s failed “Plan B” to avert the fiscal cliff and the NRA’s embarrassing press conference.

“The Republican Party is in a rebuilding mode after its 2012 election loss. These two events–a defiant NRA and an incompetent leadership–cannot be the face of confrontation the GOP wants to show the public on high-profile issues. Tea Party activists and gun owners are a key part of the party base. But these public acts are out of sync with the moment and completely at odds with party’s need to widen its membership.”

Joe Conason: What Americans should learn from the “Republican apocalypse.”

The Wall Street Journal has a great behind-the-scenes look at how the fiscal cliff negotiations faltered.

“Mr. Obama repeatedly lost patience with the speaker as negotiations faltered. In an Oval Office meeting last week, he told Mr. Boehner that if the sides didn’t reach agreement, he would use his inaugural address and his State of the Union speech to tell the country the Republicans were at fault.”

At one point, Boehner told the president, “I put $800 billion [in tax revenue] on the table. What do I get for that?”

Replied Obama: “You get nothing. I get that for free.”