Oh, come on, Harry! The best thing that could happen would be a stalemate that causes the automatic cuts to kick in -- because the Republicans can only screw the Democrats if they refuse to raise taxes, but you allow them to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid anyway. Whatever you hand them, it's on you, dude.

And of course, you and the president swallowed the whole deficit "crisis" fairy tale to begin with (and were cynical enough to use the safety net as a bargaining chip). So on the whole, we'd be pretty happy with gridlock:

WASHINGTON -- A new wave of pessimism colored super committee talks on Tuesday as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) blasted anti-tax crusader Grover Norquist for meddling with the panel's progress and suggested that the American public "impeach" him.

During a stakeout with reporters, Reid read aloud part of an interview Norquist did with The Hill on Monday in which Norquist said Republican leaders in both chambers promised him they wouldn't accept a debt reduction deal that included tax hikes.

"It won't pass the House or the Senate," Norquist, who is the president of the advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform, said in the interview. "I've talked to the House leadership and the Senate leadership. They're not going to be passing any tax increases."

Reid also cited recent comments he said Norquist made to the Washington Post, including what Reid called "a stark warning" to super committee co-chair Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas): "I would say to Mr. Hensarling that he might want to call George Herbert Walker Bush and see how his second term went." Norquist was referring to the former president's "no new taxes" pledge in 1998, during his first campaign. Bush went back on his pledge once in the White House and went on to lose his second election.

"You'll have to admit it is a little disheartening to read the stuff to you I read from Grover Norquist," Reid told reporters.