It's hardball time. As I mentioned in a previous post, we're at the point now where the blame game comes to the fore and both sides are not interested in reaching any agreement at all.

In that vein, President Obama has rejected an invitation from Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to meet with GOP senators to try and hash out a budget cutting deal.

The Hill:

The White House has rejected Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell's (Ky.) invitation for President Obama to meet Thursday with Senate Republicans about their position on the debt-ceiling talks.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said McConnell was asking Obama to visit and "hear Republicans restate their maximalist position" in the negotiations to raise the $14.3 trillion debt ceiling.

"We know that position. That's not a conversation worth having," Carney said at his daily briefing.

McConnell made the invitation one day after Obama challenged Republicans to give up special tax breaks for corporate jets and major oil companies. Obama wants to include revenue from eliminating those breaks as part of a package to reduce the deficit, but Republicans are ruling out any tax increases.

Obama doesn't want to play nice anymore. His remarks at his press conference on Wednesday show that he is fully engaged in partisan warfare and he wants to be free to hammer the GOP anytime he wishes.