In a piece asking, Did the stimulus bill fail?, Dave Weigel finds a comparison in the Bush tax cuts:

Did the stimulus do less than President Obama said it would? Absolutely… At his most optimistic, he said the stimulus would be a success if it “created or saved” 4 million jobs. It fell far short of that. But ambitious, expensive bills have fallen short before, and it hasn’t discredited their reasons to exist. George W. Bush’s tax cuts were supposed to balance the budget by 2010. That hasn’t happened, obviously, but tax cuts have not been discredited—in fact, they’re central to the discussion about how to dig out of the recession now. Tax cuts are popular.

Not only do Republicans reject any tax increases in debt ceiling discussions, they’re redefining them down:

Republicans, led by Mr. Cantor, rejected proposals to close loopholes or other tax breaks for owners of corporate jets, oil and gas companies and hedge funds. They said these measures, which would have raised about $130 billion, amounted to tax increases. The administration has also proposed limiting deductions for high wage-earners, which the White House says would raise $290 billion. But there is little support for that in Congress.

Revenue obviously has to be part of the compromise equation.