Responsible citizens that you are, a lot of you will be write and phone your media outlets in the next couple of weeks to correct their lazy coverage of the government shutdown. Did crazy people on both sides make it happen? No, they didn’t. John Boehner did it because the tea party made him do it, and the tea party made him do it because (a) they want a fight more than they want any particular policy solution, and (b) they run the GOP now.
It seems silly to gather evidence for something so obvious, but you might as well start now. Via David Neiwert, here is a vid of Mike Pence leading his merry men in a chant for shutdown.
Via TPM, here is a vid of a Bachmann rally where a guy, holding a sign that says “Shut ‘er Down!”, claims that he doesn’t want a shutdown. Behind him the crowd chants “Shut ‘er Down!”.
The Washington Post reports here that the Congressional GOP caucus gave Boehner a standing ovation when he told them to get ready for a government shutdown.
People will tell you that Democrats wanted the shutdown, made it happen, that they’re to blame. Stifle the urge to laugh and bring this up instead.
PurpleGirl
Any time I hear anyone say it’s the Democrats fault I will bring up this information. There are several of my neighbors who I will delight in telling them so.
Omnes Omnibus
Just because they engineered it and are cheering for it doesn’t mean they want it. Whatever would give you the impression that they want a shutdown?
arguingwithsignposts
Apparently, there has been another 7.4 aftershock off coast of japan, 1 meter tsunami expected. apologies if this has been posted already elsewhere.
cat48
This is very odd now & I don’t know how you justify shutting down over policy. It is no longer over money. It’s about EPA Regulation, Planned Parenthood Regulation, etc. NOT MONEY!
If this were reported accurately, the rethugs would be fired by Independents. If a party wants to quit regulating air & water quality, they should have to campaign on that policy; not sneak it into an appropriation. This is the WI Unionbusting fight all over again.
Bob Loblaw
I can’t believe the Republicans have the balls to shut the government down during war time. I can very much believe, however, that Democrats won’t have the balls to call them on it or run wild with the angle.
Lolis
I think traditional media is practically dead.
4tehlulz
PROTIP: The Internet never forgets.
Why won’t the GOP ever learn this?
Mnemosyne
And yet these same people will be the ones screaming the loudest about not being able to get any government services during the shutdown. And they will see absolutely no contradiction between the two stances.
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
Roy Blunt just sent out an email blaming the Democrats for the impending shut down. If you live in MO, call him (like I did) and make your feelings known.
Cermet
The F’ing civil war is back on – the elite that desire to enslave us all- i.e. steal our labor – has once more started fighting the great class war that they lost in 1865. If the demorats can’t pull this together people, we are f’ed big time. This is all out war and these rat f’ers are licking the crusty ass of the loon brothers and all the other parasitic life forms composing the top 1% that has fooled the top 20% and the crazy twenty-seven percenter’s to lick along with them (when did we get so many numbers to describe these classes?)
We can win this fight if Obama stops acting like this isn’t total war between the classes and starts to fight like he wants to defend the real American people, not the parasitic low lives. Obama had better wake up and realize these are raving mad dogs that aren’t ever doing to accept or tolerate anyone who isn’t part of their parasitic Klan.
The tide may have turned but this fight will determine a lot – whether a long slow siege occurs – which can slowly (more likely) go bad due to the short attention span of most people, or a decisive first victory to put those low life asswipe brothers in their place. We will soon see what the President is really made of …
4tehlulz
@Bob Loblaw: Well, at least one Democrat has brought it up. I remember seeing on the front page of Yahoo for about five minutes.
Elizabelle
Poor Japan. 7.4 and another tsunami.
We just have a tsunami of stupidity to deal with.
I agree, we should correct anyone who tries to lay this at Democrats’ feet.
Includes our finest journalism sources, if they dare.
4tehlulz
@Cermet: It’s funny you bring that up; I don’t remember if it was here or at Wonkette, but the shutdown pisses all over Charleston’s Treasonpalooza at Sumter this weekend, because it’s a national park.
So there’s one benefit, at least.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
Reid just got on the terebi and said it is 8 billion worth of ideology that will cause a shut down.
Guess what ideology that would be?
My guess is ensoulment.
I dont relly think any democrats are right-to-life warriors.
Kirk Spencer
The options seem to be massive
compromisesurrender or shutdown. Either will result in a negative shock to our economy. The only question is how severe the shock will be.I’m /guessing/ that the Republicans who acknowledge this are hoping or expecting the shock to be relatively minor — enough that Obama gets blamed for a bad economy, not so bad that the pitchforks come out against those who brought the crash.
The problem is that those people doing the chanting believe (an undeniable article of faith) that the reason Gingrich and the rest of the Rs of 1996 took such a hit was not because they shut things down, but because they yielded before they got what they wanted. Gingrich blinked first, and so the Republicans took the blame.
Thus, if we do have a shutdown (almost certain at this point, but not guaranteed), there will be immense pressure on the Republicans not to blink but to hold out for 100% of their agenda. That leads to a long shutdown. That, in turn, leads to a major blow against the US and the World economy. I’m not sure anyone can plot the way when the crazy is in charge, but I’m willing to state that if we go more than two weeks we’re going to have a deeper recession than we did at the end of Bush’s term — and the same players will be to blame.
Legalize
Just like there is no evidence whatsoever that the Teabaggers are racists.
General Stuck
I will consider the shutdown as classroom time for the American public to take the basic civics course they either slept through in high school, or were thinking about sex. Which pretty much covers every minute of every day at that age.
The Dangerman
@Kirk Spencer:
Feature, not bug.
The only way we end up with President Bachmann is unemployment is 10% and gas is $10 a gallon.
Bulworth
Obviously anyone who would point out this contradiction just hates teabag Americans.
Omnes Omnibus
@Hermione Granger-Weasley: How in the name of all that is good and right in the world did you come up with ensoulment as your ideological answer?
Pangloss
GOP “policy” is now completely determined by whatever makes liberals most angry, and nothing else.
Original Lee
Not that people care about the DC metro area particularly (Art Buchwald’s “Bring Two Bricks” column gets frequent mention nowadays), but apparently if the feds shut down, almost all DC local government services shut down, too – DC is treated like another federal agency.
Not to mention the tourism sector will get creamed. If the parks and monuments and most museums shut down, do you want to bet the Tea Party hacks will never make the connection between loss of tourism revenue (hurting many small businesses) and the government shutdown? Yeah, right. And good luck finding a Portajohn on the Mall – those companies are not going to leave free places to pee out for the taxpayers and furriners to use if there’s a shutdown. Your tax dollars not at work means no working plumbing available even at the places people can go with everything else closed. You would think the media would be all over this angle, but so far not a pee(p).
Mike in NC
The very first thing that should occur if the government shuts down is that these assholes have their pay and perks cut off.
Original Lee
@Mike in NC: Amen.
Trinity
In every place and at every corner we should call this ‘The Tea Party Shutdown‘. Period.
The Political Nihilist Formerly Known As Kryptik
@Pangloss:
Which would be hilarious and cute if it literally wasn’t the sole overarching impetus of our political discourse nowadays. Unfortunately, it really feels like the whole of America subsists on Hippie Punching.
piratedan
@Bulworth: hell no! We’re not against a shutdown of the government for the stuff that I need… we’re for a government shutdown for the stuff that YOU need. Geez, connect the dots man… can’t you see that you’re being played?
elmo
Why is this so hard?
Schumer: “We have agreed to every one of the Republican’s financial demands. We have agreed to every single dollar of spending cuts they ask for. But that’s not enough for them. This isn’t about the money — they are still going to shut down the government unless we also agree to destroy Planned Parenthood and gut the Clean Air act.”
Repeat, on every talk show, every interview.
Brachiator
A fellow commuter works for the Army Corps of Engineers. A government shutdown means he is out of work until sanity is restored.
So, if the government shuts down, does this mean that the NTSB will stop investigating why some Boeing 737s are losing their skins?
Also, good chance that the IRS will stop processing refunds if there is a shutdown.
What gets me are the dopes who want to shut down the IRS, especially Republicans. The IRS doesn’t do anything that is not authorized by laws Congress writes.
And I have no idea how the GOP would finance the wars they love or the upcoming federal Virginity and Pregnancy Patrols without federal taxes.
Kirk Spencer
heh – local consequences are fun.
I live next to Chickamauga National Park. There is a lot of traffic through the park by locals going from one place to another.
Somebody just realized that if the shutdown occurs, the convenient roads will be closed.
Given the local area is a strong tea party support area, I am laughing at the reactions. It’s not quite “keep government out of my medicaid” but it’s close.
Zifnab
They aren’t talking to me. I know better.
They aren’t talking to themselves. They know better. Hell, they’re openly asking for the shutdown – they better know better.
They’re talking to the ignorant “independent” middle that is too lazy to keep up but not quite lazy enough to not vote.
If this country spends another two years in GOP hands, it will only be the result of the sheer pig ignorance of the American center.
The Dangerman
Since a shutdown appears inevitable, now it’s just a matter of how long will it be; since the Right is going to both dig in and celebrate a shutdown, I’m guessing it’s fairly long.
Elizabelle
Here’s a spectacular headline from yesterday’s LA TImes. Although story makes it clear it’s the conservative GOP that won’t budge.
Obama Fails to End Budget Standoff
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-congress-spending-20110406,0,1823575.story
I agree. Don’t capitulate. Make the GOP and Tea Party own this.
And deal from a stronger hand once their constituents are howling.
Zifnab
@Brachiator:
:-p The Republicans would love to see IRS audits against billionaires curtailed. The IRS isn’t a tool to collect taxes from everybody. It’s a tool to intimidate potential taxable citizens into paying the GOP protection money directly so as to avoid higher rates from the IRS at large. You just have to know how the system is supposed to work.
Payroll taxes automatically collect 99% of the population’s tax deductions. Under Reagen and again under Bush Jr, the IRS got downright feral about collecting taxes from anyone under the million dollar mark.
They’ll get their pound of flesh.
Svensker
Why didn’t the Democrats pass the budget last session? Anyone remember?
jaleh
@Elizabelle: I just went over there (LA Times), all the comments are from rightwinger, so I put in my two cents.
Mnemosyne
@Elizabelle:
I saw an even more spectacular one:
House Republican budget would slash $5.8 trillion over the next decade
Mnemosyne
@Svensker:
Because a group of idiot Democrats thought it would hurt their re-election chances.
Whoops.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@Elizabelle:
Elizabelle, what’s wrong with you? If the Dems would just toss the Retardicans salads, there wouldn’t be a shutdown. If the Dems won’t drop down and get their tongues working, then it’s obvious that the shutdown is the Dems’ fault. There’s nothing for the Retardicans to own.
Bulworth
The WashPost has an article today about how Virginia teabags view the possible shutdown:
No compromise. That’s the teabag position. The “enemy” cannot be bargained with or reasoned with. The interests of others are not to be consulted.
Hermione Granger-Weasley
@Omnes Omnibus: Boner said so.
PP also dispenses birth control.
Life at Conception is part of the GOP platform.
ensoulment.
QED
Bulworth
Shut’re down. Hey, why isn’t the zoo open? Where’s my tax rebate check?
aimai
@Kirk Spencer:
Hysterical!
aimai
Brachiator
@Zifnab:
Funny you should mention that. What’s just come across our desks: IRS commissioner Shulman has recently remarked on IRS contingency plans.
RE:
Not quite true, but I understand why a lot of people think this.
I think you are confusing payroll taxes and federal and state withholding of income taxes. But I take your larger point. Interesting that the Republicans led the effort to repeal attempts to increase pre-payments of various taxes by businesses by use of Form 1099, because some of these proposals were tied to funding health care reform.
chopper
spite! spite is the word of your undoing!
chopper
i wonder how many federal employees and contractors are going to go bankrupt after a long shutdown. lotsa people in this country live paycheck-to-paycheck.
Mary Jane
@Elizabelle:
Just FYI, yesterday’s print edition headline reads “GOP’s Budget Shifts Health Burden”, accompanied by pictures of Obama (looking serious) and Boehner (about to cry).
CCNMKC
Message to Paul Ryan: Why do you hate Americans?
Message to John Boehner: Why do you hate Americans?
Message to GOP/Tea Party: Why do you hate Americans?
Message to ALL budget slashers who refuse fair revenue increases: WHY DO YOU HATE AMERICANS?
Elizabelle
@Bulworth:
Proving they
1) are not adults
2) and do not belong anywhere near a government, because
3) they do not know American history, at all. They’ve settled for the legend.
4) They are not patriots, because they do not get “WE” the people. It’s ME, MY, MINE with these principled creatures.
I wish Ben Franklin would come back and kick their privileged asses.
Roger Moore
@4tehlulz:
Too rarely is it asked: is our GOP learning? Seriously, I think the GOP doesn’t care that the internet never forgets because they still see the internet as a sideshow. The Republican voting block skews toward those parts of the population that are most dependent on traditional media for their information. Even those who do use the net heavily can be counted on to pay attention only to trusted (i.e. Republican mouthpiece) sources.
Cris
Internet polls mean nothing, but here’s the current state of a poll in the libertarian-trolled local newspaper of my heavily-Republican corner of NW Montana.
Who Would Deserve More Blame for a Government Shutdown?
Total Votes: 57
Democrats 16% (9)
Republicans 84% (48)
Yutsano
@chopper: We can collect unemployment, subject to the rules of our particular state. Of course this whole situation will cause a nice spike in the unemployment rate that way too.
After the shutdown there will be exactly one week to fix this, then Congress is off for two. And if you think they’re staying in town just to pass a budget bill I got a nice bridge in New York for ya.
ChrisB
If the government does shut down, I want video of the teabaggers celebrating. Maybe then people will get the idea whose fault it is.
Cheryl from Maryland
@4tehlulz: That is hilarious. We shall see if SC loon and Confed/Repub Party Senator DeMint asks for a special exemption for the seseesh festivities.
Elizabelle
@Mary Jane:
Good to hear.
Not the first instance where online and morning paper headlines are quite different. I often think the WaPost website is more radical (skewed towards GOP eyes) than its dead tree version.
chopper
@Yutsano:
well, i’ll have time for spring cleaning at least. sucks i won’t get paid for 2 or 3 weeks. least i have money in savings. and i’m getting a decent tax refund this year, so it won’t be as painful.
Yutsano
@chopper: Already filed my taxes and I have almost but not quite the savings cushion Suze Orman tells you to have, so I can get by for a month or two if it comes to that. I plan to majorly clean the condo then maybe hit the ranch for a few days. I’m still thinking about heading north too, but we’ll see.
Calouste
@The Dangerman:
Europe has 10% unemployment and $10 gas and they don’t elect loons like Bachmann. I leave it to the reader to work out why.
ET
As a DC resident I find these people to be dangerous fools who don’t know shit.
They think it is clever/patriotic to dress up and yell “shut it down.” The fact that I work for the government is big – because I have an American citizen who has no representation because DC has not representation but who pays taxes. And to add insult to injury since Congress signs off on DC budgets (even for the monies collected by DC and not federal monies) DC government shuts down. No libraries (for all the people look for jobs or students doing research), not trash pick up (there is the idea it will have to be done), no DMV for licenses/car registrations/inspection, no permits to build/renovate house, no permits for parades (i.e. Cherry Blossom parade), no work to be done by DoT on potholes or other road issues (don’t know if this affects be projects that are under contract), etc.
Stupid fuckers are playing games with my life directly and the town I live in. They don’t speak for me, they likely think I am some “bureaucrat” who is a lazy sponge who doesn’t deserve my paycheck. I believe in free speech and respect their right to protest, but I have no respect for them, have no respect for their beliefs, and have no respect for anything that actually say. Talk about sponges on society all that yelling likely means they aren’t doing something actually productive like earning a paycheck or volunteering somewhere.
(rant over)
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
I think you slightly misunderstood Zifnab. He was saying that the Republicans use the IRS as a tool of intimidation, not that it’s the actual purpose of the IRS.
db
Is there a way we can just shut down those services the majority of tea-baggers don’t even recognize that they are dependent on?
Bulworth
CNN has a link with the headline “Tea Party Activist: Shut it down”.
But I’m sure somewhere some DFH moonbat lefty commenter left a comment saying he or she wished for a gov shutdown so it’s all equal.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
I think people get hung up with Nixon’s misuse of the IRS in the 60s and 70s. Strangely, modern Republicans are suicidal. I’ve read them talk about cutting IRS staff and even shutting the IRS down entirely (at least while we have a Democratic president), preventing the IRS from doing their job to help the federal government book revenue.
Apart from this, the Bush Cheney regime was noted more for having corporate interests write tax provisions that heavily favored special interest groups. This was far more important than using the IRS as a tool of intimidation.
By the way, I find it interesting that the Democrats did not get rid of the crap that was added under Bush to prevent people from deducting the cost of Canadian drugs. It just shows that there are sell-outs among the Democrats, pretending to care about the little guy.
Kirk Spencer
@chopper:
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but if you don’t yet have your refund, you probably won’t get it while the government is shut down.
The Populist
@ChrisB:
I have faith that if the gov’t shuts down, people will wake up when that SS check or disability payment doesn’t come in.
I think most people are truly concerned about the deficit but looking at all the polls they want the rich and the defense budget to take the hit.
Look at Wisconsin, sure Prosser may squeak through but all the protests (we do need more voters btw – protests are useless against ideologues) woke people up.
I have faith that the GOP is overreaching yet again. The President sends a budget down and congress has one as well. The fact Obama did take from programs liberals like sends a message that he was willing to work with them and they just want to shut everything down.
I am of the belief and am tired of all this, so my view is let them do it and people will soon realize they get what they vote (or don’t vote) for.
I know many independents and moderate GOP folks who are hand wringing over this looming shutdown.
It’s time for America to see what those fucks want for us all. Maybe now people wake up. Maybe a shut down (and no, I am NOT for it) is the thing we need to make sure 2012 gets us some support and some seats back.
I cannot accept that people would willingly elect any of the GOP presidential dorks knowing that they control the house too. Memories may be short but I know people aren’t going to allow the GOP to come in from the cold and have full control. If it happens, then that is it as somebody above said.
The damage will be irreversable. Let’s just say when I get old and they expect me to live on my decent savings and SS gets fucked and no medicare is available to me, I will be the type to take myself out. No way will I subject myself to the GOP’s idea of austerity. Dignity is all I’ve ever asked of people but apparently that is lacking with GOP twits.
The Populist
@db:
Tea bag supporters live on social security and medicare judging from the last election. They will get the message.
If this happens, Obama better rise up and show people he is trying to get things going again without capitulating to these pukes.
2012 is it guys. If we can’t get dems back in there and people don’t wake from this deep sleep, I fear the worst case scenarios will take hold for decades.
I have faith the youth will be out in force in 2012.
The Populist
@Yutsano:
Unfortunately for me, my mom lives on social security, has no savings and is unemployed (health issues). I will either have to step up and cover two mortgages now or let her lack of payments kill me as well (I co-signed).
Cereative Anarchy
If Democrats really want to spin this back into something they control they need to loudly and immediately call for an ammendment to law that prohibits Congress from being paid during the shutdown. The side that shows a lack of desire to gain politically or financially from the Shutdown will be the undisputed winner.
Aaaargh
The Tea Partiers’ Theme Song:
All through the day
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine
All through the night
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine
Now they’re frightened of leaving it
Everyone’s weaving it
Coming on strong all the time
All through the day, I me mine
I me me mine, I me me mine
I me me mine, I me me mine
All I can hear
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine
Even those tears
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine
No one’s frightened of playing it
Everyone’s saying it
Flowing more freely than wine
All through the day, I me mine
I me me mine, I me me mine
I me me mine, I me me mine