Fiscal Cliff negotiations in one chart.

[Mr Khan]

The blame doesn't lie on the Republicans in general as much as the Norquist folks in particular. It was obvious that if Boehner had just pushed an up-down vote on any one of those earlier solutions, enough moderate Republicans plus the Democrats would have gotten it through, but he fears party revolt from the minarchist fringe

American voters on the whole would have looked much more kindly on the Republicans as a whole, had they simply acted (giving the Republicans political capital to make more meaningful spending reforms down the line), while the loonier edge of the right continues to hold the country hostage, and its own party, too.