Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) accused Democrats of “curb-stomping veterans” because the Washington D.C. World War II Memorial had been closed after Republicans forced a government shutdown over President Barack Obama’s health care reform law.
[…]“There is no other way to put it. Democrats are curb-stomping veterans,” he wrote.
Get pissed, destroy
I hadn’t noticed that, but according to Jon Chait, a lot of mainstream conservative pundits are against the shutdown…because they think the debt ceiling makes for a better hostage situation:
Meanwhile, former Bush administration speechwriter Marc Thiessen urges the party to release the government hostage and instead jack up its demand for the debt ceiling. “[O]ne of the first things they teach you in Hostage Taking 101 is that you have to choose a hostage the other side cares about saving,” Thiessen complains. By contrast, a debt-ceiling breach would potentially destroy millions of jobs, making it the perfect threat…
Many of you have said (and I agreed) that big business would freak and force the Republicans to give in if a debt default seems imminent. There may be less truth to this than we think:
When Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., was asked if he had heard business groups express fears of a government shutdown’s economic impact, he replied: “No. And it wouldn’t make any difference if I did.
[….]A changing environment has given conservatives plenty of tools to challenge establishment Republicans by using new technology and social media to organize and mobilize highly motivated voters. Campaign finance laws have also given donors a greater playing field that is not limited to the political parties.
[….]“Now it’s more of a bottom-up model, where you see these grass-roots organizations and grass-roots voters are now empowered and they feel they have a stronger voice,” he said. “There is less of an emphasis on the parties. They used to have much more outsize control over who the candidates were and what party discipline was. Now a lot of that is gone.”
I don’t know what I want but I know how to get it
I don’t like Republican establishment pundits or even quasi-apostates like David Frum, but when I agree with their analysis of the looming shutdown, that it’s a Tea Party temper tantrum that will hurt the Republican party and the country. That makes sense, because (a) it will hurt the Republican party and the country and (b) these guys care about the Republican party and (to a lesser extent) the country.
Ron Fournier, Mark Halperin, and most other “ostensibly nonpartisan pundits” are most likely Republicans who consider themselves moderates. To the extent that they have policy opinions, they are in line with those of establishment Republicans (don’t shut down the government but do try to cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and other social programs), but they, like the teahadists, are ultimately nihilists. Tea Parties don’t want to govern, they just want to destroy things. Ostensibly nonpartisan pundits don’t care what’s in the budget, they just want it to be a centrist bipartisan compromise. If the Republicans wanted to eat all the Irish babies, and the Democrats opposed cannibalism, Fournier and the rest would wonder why Obama couldn’t lead by agreeing to eat half the Irish babies…and then claim that Reagan, Tip, James Baker, and Gene Sperling would all agree to eat half (never mind that Ted Cruz wouldn’t accept this compromise).
Compromise for the sake of compromise, by any means necessary, isn’t even an ethos. These men are cowards.
I don’t know what I want but I know how to get itPost + Comments (115)
God is dead
The new thing all the cool kids are saying is that a shutdown next week will decrease the likelihood of a default later in October. I agree with this part of the reasoning:
If a shutdown is avoided, it is likely to be because congressional Republicans have opted to wait and push for policy concessions on the debt limit instead.
But if there is a shutdown and consequences are minimal for Republican Congressman, why not go the fully monty and force a default? I agree that a shutdown further tarnishes the Republican party’s image among voters, but if you’re an individual Republican Congressman, why should you care? In the short term, you’ll probably get more “give ’em hell” supportive calls from constituents than complaints, given the way your district has been gerrymandered. Even in the long term (at least until 2022), you’re much more likely to lose a primary by helping to avert a shutdown than you are to lose a general election by causing one.
It’s worth noting that Ted Cruz is now the top choice of prospective Republican primary voters.
The media will blame both sides no matter what happens, and if you see yourself as on a kamikaze mission to take down Obama, then a shutdown makes sense as a part of this mission.
A default is different, there will be real blowback if one happens (though maybe not enough to make much difference to the careers of individual Republican Congressmen), but I don’t see how the experience of a shutdown would convince Republican Congressmen of this.
There is no accountability of any kind in Washington anymore. There is no controlling legal authority, and everything is permitted. The Republicans could easily go Leopold and Loeb on us with the debt ceiling, though in the end I don’t think they’ll quite have the guts to do it.
We’re gonna need a bigger guillotine
Credit where credit is due. Rs have successfully spun media into believing raising debt limit is concession on their part.
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) September 26, 2013
Isn’t that the sad truth?
We are all Villagers now
I do agree that a shutdown will hurt Republicans, but not as much as many think, because, of course, BOTH SIDES will have done it.
Seems to me most new polling shows majorities oppose shutdown, but also wud split blame rather equally, if one were to occur.
— Harry Enten (@ForecasterEnten) September 24, 2013
As I’ve said before, “both sides do it” is the American equivalent of the song of General Kim Jong-il.
No, it won’t be calamity for Republicans if shutdown happens, though at a certain point, the fact they’re losing to Terry McAuliffe by five points is a calamity.
Update. I like Enten and am not blaming him, I think he’s right that’s what the polls say.
Help Some Brothers Out
I hate to do this, but you all know that I am the Grand Chapter Advisor for my college fraternity, which is kind of unlike most college fraternities in that we aren’t a bunch of trust fund douchebags with unlimited pockets, and we have a bunch of great kids from across the full spectrum of America. At any rate, we are running low on funds because some kids dropped out of school (meaning fewer dues to pay our insurance and operating costs). They are going to be doing some demolition work on weekends to make a couple grand for a local contractor, but for Homecoming, we are holding an open raffle for some steaks and crab meat. The price for a raffle ticket is 10 bucks, and you get three packs of Omaha steaks and crab meat, and it is all for a good cause.
If you are interested and want a chance at winning some steaks and helping some really good kids (and, by proxy, reducing yet another stress point for me as I continue to juggle ways to keep the house financially solvent), the link to enter the raffle is here, and we will ship them to you.
I do everything I can for these boys- I have paid dues for at least four members and had them work it off at my house, I’ve catered all their recruiting and formal events out of my own pocket, I’ve even dropped a grand to drive the kids across country in a rental car to stay in a hotel while they are at a three day conference, but I can’t dig us out of this hole. I hate using this website for this bleg, as it is not political or related to animal rescue, and I know many of you hate the whole concept of fraternities.
We reorganized three years ago, and we are still saddled with a bunch of old debt from before, and if we can just make it through this hump, we’ll be good, because we have spent three years building alumni support and are going to have an unprecedented turnout on Homecoming, and we really are on the cusp of finally making it after decades of the Chapter floundering. We have good leadership, we have built an alumni network and have weekly calls. We just need a little bit more help to keep this thing alive for a while before we are out of the woods. I’m so sick and tired of lying in bed wondering where the money is going to come from for these guys, but I really feel like we are reaching critical mass with out alumni outreach.
Regardless, trust me, your help would be appreciated, though, because I am really at my wits end. I just want these kids to have the same kind of positive experience I had and that so many other kids with more means have. Plus, you might win some awesome steaks!