Quote:
Originally Posted by Passerby
WTF is the end game on this? Maintaining the shutdown until the middle of the month and then defaulting on the debt?
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(raises hand) Oooh! Oooh! I'm glad you asked.
Right now the blame game and finger pointing is going on. Let's take a quick look at that.
Republicans in the House have planned to shut the government down before they even got elected in 2010. They've gone right up to the edge half a dozen times since they took power, but were held back during the election year because there was too much risk to the Romney/Ryan campaign. Shutting the government down over Obamacare wouldn't have mooted if Romney had been elected or the SCOTUS had ruled in Republican's favor.
So, they finally got to shut it down. Republicans planned it out and executed it carefully, as I'll show. You should understand that the Republicans are the ones doing this and that the blame should NOT be evenly distributed between both parties.
Republicans sent a 'dirty' CR bill to the Senate. The Senate predictably stripped the 'kill Obamacare' portion of the bill and sent it back the House. The Republicans in the House are sitting on this 'clean' CR bill. It is their way out. If things start to sour, they can end the shutdown at any time by bringing it up for a vote and passing it. This was not accidental.
The Republicans then sent a flurry of 'dirty' bills to the Senate. The Senate's only way out if the public turns against them is to pass one of these dirty bills and sent it to Obama. Any of these dirty bill scenarios are political wins for Republicans. Republicans planned this. It was not an accident.
Republicans have carefully positioned themselves in a WIN or DRAW situation. They calculate that they won't lose much at all by passing a clean CR bill AFTER a shutdown instead of BEFORE a shutdown.
They also calculate that you guys are big dummies with short memories. Half of you will blame Democrats and the rest will forget by election day, November 4, 2014. So are you a dummy?
The next trick they'll try is to connect the shutdown to the debt ceiling deadline on October 17th. If things go their way they'll keep the government shutdown until then. If things sour, they'll pass a one week CR so we get to go through the whole thing all over again.
Democrats just need to let the Kindergarten Congress have their tantrum. Republicans will take to Fox News and the Sunday shows to shift blame on Democrats. As long as they are talking, they will be screwing up and infighting. We're taping the whole thing and planning for the next two elections.
What are your 2016 Republican presidential hopefuls saying about the shutdown? They're waiting to see what happens because they're too scared to take a position right now. Cowards!