Hostage Crisis is Winding Down: Entirely Predictable Republicans Cave

     This party isn't hard to figure out. It couldn't be more transparent. Basically they're going to have to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling with no big concessions from Obama in either a major rollback of his own ACA healthcare law, or entitlement cuts in exchange. There are a number of Republicans who are themselves frustrated:

    “This was entirely predictable,” said Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), a conservative who warned Republicans not to shut down the government over Obamacare. “But at the end, everybody loses. This isn’t about some political game.”

     Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/white-house-premature-celebration-government-shutdown-debt-ceilign-98167.html#ixzz2hUc7wmkI

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    Not a political game? Well I'm not sure about that. It certainly shouldn't be so Congressman Nunes is correct about that. However, it's clear that many in his party have treated it as just that. 

     "Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) described Obama as a “firm but conciliatory president who understands Republicans have put themselves in a box” after House Democrats met at the White House on Wednesday.

Regardless, the near-complete surrender of the GOP is clear. Republicans long ago ceded their major policy demands. At first, they insisted that they would only fund the government and raise the debt ceiling if Obama agreed to sign legislation defunding his signature health care law."

     "Recognizing that wouldn’t happen, Republicans moved on to insisting that he delay implementation of the individual mandate, which requires the uninsured to sign up for coverage or pay a fine. Obama said all along that he wouldn’t give anything up to get a debt-limit hike and that he wouldn’t rewrite Obamacare to do that or to keep the government open."

     "After Oct. 1, when the government shut down and registration for Obamacare’s health exchanges opened, Republicans began to have trouble defining what it was they were after."

     “We’re not going to be disrespected,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-Ind.) told the Washington Examiner. “We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is.”

     Disrespected? So the GOP has put the country through all this pain and discomfort because its feelings are hurt? And have no doubt, there has already been pain felt and points have already dropped off of GDP to get them their respect.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/10/11/government-shutdown-is-already-doing-severe-damage/ 

     At this point the exact deal is not clear and it's not a done deal. However, this is clearly really hurting the Republican brand. 

     http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/polls-republicans-2014-government-shutdown-98191.html

     Obama is essentially waiting for the GOP's best offer as you have two Republican plans developing-a House plan and a Senate plan. The House plan as it originally developed is a nonstarter as it didn't even end the government shutdown though it did raise the debt ceiling. Even the Senate Republicans consider that pretty useless:

     "Asked if he’d rather see the Senate GOP cut a deal with the White House rather than the House, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) responded: “Given what we’ve seen so far, yes.”

     “House Republicans so far, don’t want to get rid of the shutdown. I don’t know in what world we’re faring well under the shutdown in terms of policy or politics,” Flake said.

      "The House-Senate GOP divide is the latest sign of the growing Republican anxiety over how to end the first government shutdown in 17 years. Some polls indicate the fiscal standoff is sending the GOP to a historic nadir, a result that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) described as “devastating.”

      Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/fiscal-deal-senate-house-republicans-government-shutdown-98209.html#ixzz2hUk0WeDt

     McCain is on record as admitting that the GOP is responsible for this mess. 

     http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/mccain-to-fox-news-no-the-shutdown-is-the-gop-s-fault-video

     At this point it seems that Maine Republican Senator Susan Collin's proposal could prove something of a framework. It would raise the debt ceiling through the rest of the year and fund the government for 6 months-of course what we want is to get rid of debt ceiling chicken every few months. 

     "The leading Senate GOP proposal has been drafted by Collins and in its current form would keep the government open for six months at current spending levels, raise the debt limit through January, delay Obamacare’s medical device tax for two years, require income verification for Obamacare subsidies and give federal agencies more flexibility to work within the constraints of the sequester. Democratic and Republican party leaders have encouraged Collins to hammer something out but has not signed off on her framework, which has changed several times over the past day."

      Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/fiscal-deal-senate-house-republicans-government-shutdown-98209.html#ixzz2hUlg0gBT

     Obama has said he's listening but it's clear he is not endorsing this at this point. I know-Republicans really shouldn't be getting anything from this. I certainly would rather have the debt ceiling taken off the table for awhile. I don't know that delaying the medical device tax is such a big deal though I agree it's silly and is just a sop to the Get No Respect Caucus. Democrats are certainly right about this:

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/how-the-push-to-repeal-obamacare-s-medical-device-tax-gained-traction

    What is attractive about her offer is at least it would begin to rework the sequester. At the end of the day I agree there's no reason in the world to get rid of the medical device tax-and this industry needs to pay a tax. Still, ultimately, the only solution is for people to stop electing Republicans. This absurd escapade the GOP has taken us on  has actually made the solution a little more likely-the longer the government shutdown were to go on the more likely it would become. 

    P.S. Of course part of the problem is that it's not so much that in the red states people still support these Tea Party candidates but that the gerrymander has so skewered things. The Dems got 54% of the House vote. So what remains the big story is that a small minority is throwing a monkey wrench into the working of the government and the country for the rest of us. This has been a recurring problem in our history going back to the dominance of the Old South with it's slavery. Despite bieing in the minority it dominated the country the first 60 years-before the election of Lincoln. 

   Then we had to wage essentially this same fight in the 60s to get rid of segregation once and for all. Comparatively the situation now though miserable, is not nearly as cataclysmic as those other watersheds. At some point this will stop-the tail won't wag the dog forever. However, just like the shutdown the interval until we do-which may well be the next 10 to 20 years-will be unnecessary and fruitless pain in the neck.