The old saying says that when you get handed a lemon you should make lemonade. The GOP got a lemon last November as it's strategy to blame Obama for the slow recovery blew up in it's face with Obama winning handily, the Dems actually against all expectations picking up seats in the Senate and also gaining 8 seats in the House. The Dems actually won the popular vote in House races and the only reason they didn't win the House was thanks to increasingly aggressive gerrymandering.
In the immediate aftermath of 2012 it was widely asked what the GOP would learn from this defeat. If there was any doubt to the answer at all, Government Shutdown 2.0 now removes it: the Republican party has learned nothing at all from the defeat. I certainly never thought they learned a heck of a lot-this is a very hardheaded party. I thought maybe they might get immigration reform done. Even that I knew was far from certain-and at present the House is sitting on legislation passed in the Senate.
However, as low an opinion as I have of the modern Republican party, certainly of the Tea Party House, I admit I didn't see this one coming. I didn't think they had not even learned this: you don't shutdown the government to achieve political goals.
Yet the GOP has talked itself into the idea that somehow they can trick the country into the idea that this is the fault of Obama and Harry Reid that they are willing to negotiate and it's those damned Democrats who won't. This sorry narrative only makes sense if you have a very perverse definition of 'negotiate.' What the GOP is calling for is not a negotiation but a hostage negotiation, it's where the two parties come to the table while one has the gun to the other's head. Actually the GOP hostage in question is the economy, the running of the government and the entire functioning of the country.
We hear Boehner explaining that in a negotiation neither side can get everything it wants-which is rich as this is something that has eluded the GOP for 5 years-and he never considers that there's something wrong with drawing the picture this way.
After all, what exactly does he think the Democrats want? They just want to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling-a normal and routine operation that has to be done if the country is to focus at all.
Is Boehner saying that Republicans don't want this? Is he saying they need the pot sweetened, that avoiding an unprecedented default of our obligations is not enough that he needs more to be interested in getting it done? That's a rather appalling admission.
Meanwhile the GOP theatrics at pretending that they're the victims-that if they shoot the hostages it will be on the Democrats as they should have given Republicans whatever they want to get them not to shoot aren't working, are not convincing anyone. The American people see through this sorry spectacle.
"Shutting down the government may end up costing Republicans control of the House of Representatives.
In the immediate aftermath of 2012 it was widely asked what the GOP would learn from this defeat. If there was any doubt to the answer at all, Government Shutdown 2.0 now removes it: the Republican party has learned nothing at all from the defeat. I certainly never thought they learned a heck of a lot-this is a very hardheaded party. I thought maybe they might get immigration reform done. Even that I knew was far from certain-and at present the House is sitting on legislation passed in the Senate.
However, as low an opinion as I have of the modern Republican party, certainly of the Tea Party House, I admit I didn't see this one coming. I didn't think they had not even learned this: you don't shutdown the government to achieve political goals.
Yet the GOP has talked itself into the idea that somehow they can trick the country into the idea that this is the fault of Obama and Harry Reid that they are willing to negotiate and it's those damned Democrats who won't. This sorry narrative only makes sense if you have a very perverse definition of 'negotiate.' What the GOP is calling for is not a negotiation but a hostage negotiation, it's where the two parties come to the table while one has the gun to the other's head. Actually the GOP hostage in question is the economy, the running of the government and the entire functioning of the country.
We hear Boehner explaining that in a negotiation neither side can get everything it wants-which is rich as this is something that has eluded the GOP for 5 years-and he never considers that there's something wrong with drawing the picture this way.
After all, what exactly does he think the Democrats want? They just want to fund the government and raise the debt ceiling-a normal and routine operation that has to be done if the country is to focus at all.
Is Boehner saying that Republicans don't want this? Is he saying they need the pot sweetened, that avoiding an unprecedented default of our obligations is not enough that he needs more to be interested in getting it done? That's a rather appalling admission.
Meanwhile the GOP theatrics at pretending that they're the victims-that if they shoot the hostages it will be on the Democrats as they should have given Republicans whatever they want to get them not to shoot aren't working, are not convincing anyone. The American people see through this sorry spectacle.
"Shutting down the government may end up costing Republicans control of the House of Representatives.
A series of polls released Sunday show just how damaging the shutdown has been for the GOP. The liberal-leaning Public Policy Polling compiled two dozen surveys, commissioned and paid for by MoveOn.org Political Action, from House districts around the country, taken from Oct. 2 through Oct. 4. Sample sizes were between 600 and 700 voters in each district."
"For Democrats to win a House majority, 17 seats would need to switch to their party's favor. Results show that would be within reach, as Republican incumbents are behind in 17 of the districts analyzed: CA-31, CO-06, FL-02, FL-10, FL-13, IA-03, IA-04, IL-13, KY-06, MI-01, MI-07, MI-11, NY-19, OH-14, PA-07, PA-08, WI-07. In four districts, the incumbent Republican fell behind after respondents were told their representative supported the government shutdown: CA-10, NY-11, NY-23, VA-02. Three districts saw GOP incumbents maintain their hold over their Democratic challengers, even after hearing their elected officials' views on the shutdown, including CA-21, NV-03 and OH-06."
"Back in 2012, Democrats picked up eight seats in the House, closing the gap of Republican control to 234-201. For a full breakdown of the PPP surveys, click here."
It's not just Americans that are disgusted, the GOP is also embarrassing us internationally
"The paralysis of the American government, where a rump in Congress is holding the whole place to ransom, doesn't really jibe with the notion of the United States as a global leader," said Michael McKinley, an expert on global relations at the Australian National University.
"The political turbulence in Washington and potential economic bombshells still to come over the U.S. government shutdown and a possible debt default this month have sent shivers through Europe. The head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, worried about the continent's rebound from the 2008 economic downturn."
"We view this recovery as weak, as fragile, as uneven," Draghi said at a news conference.
"Germany's influential newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung bemoaned the U.S. political chaos."
"At the moment, Washington is fighting over the budget and nobody knows if the country will still be solvent in three weeks. What is clear, though, is that America is already politically bankrupt," it said.
So why is the GOP doing this? For a very good reason-pride.
So what the GOP is actually doing is finding a way to make a lemon out of lemonade-the opposite of what you want. The odds were they would hang onto the House and maybe pick up some Senate seats-as 2014 is an off year election.
However, they've hit on a way to mess this all up. All it took was to make us a laughing stock before the world. It's worth it though: Republican pride is on the line.
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