Remember this when the shutdown occurs

[catnipdipper]

I can abide stupid people. I can tolerate stubborn people. When they are stubborn and stupid at the same time then I consider them Tea Baggerz.

No redeeming social value at all to these dogooders masquerading as fiscal hawks.

They sure love to legislate morality along with fisicality.

They would be funny if they weren't really that way.

[BigMikeinKC]

How about Congress stepping up to the plate and reducing their salaries, their benefits and their retirement.

Tie their salary to the minimum wage, no more than 7x's. Get a HMO like most Americans, pay part of the premium and the deductable and the co-pay. Retirement - set up a 401k and have your employer (us) match up to 5% of your payroll deduction.

Lead by example. Then I'll beleive that they really care about the finances of the USA.

[CuteOldGuy]

I support a government shutdown, rather than a complete collapse, which is what will happen if we don't get spending under control. I'm not a Republican fan, but at least they have taken the time to actually prepare a budget, something the Democrats and Administration have not.

The national debt is approaching 15 TRILLION DOLLARS! Someone has to have the balls to tell the public that the government can no longer be their nanny from cradle to grave.

If we continue with this spending, America will soon no longer be the land of the free. We've been drinking at the bar far too long, the tab will come due, and when we can't pay it - the boys in the black suits will be making a visit, and it won't be pretty.

[john_galt]

Hey Catnip, I thought that Harry Reid said the Tea party was irrelevant a couple of weeks ago? So what gives?

By the way, your ignorance is showing.

[Longermonger]

You guys are missing the most important aspect of this story.

John Boner is going to cry.

He's under pressure from both sides and he's going to crack. The Tea Baggers are pressuring him for an all-or-nothing deal. The Democrats are sticking to the compromise number they already made (which is what Republicans originally asked for). Crying Johnny wants to cut a deal but he can't. If he does, Cantor, Bachmann, Pence, and all the rest will eat him alive. Obama sits back and watches him squirm. You can see it in their body language, see it in their faces, and hear it in their voices.

The blame game is thus:
Republicans are trying super hard to pin it on Obama or Reid. It hasn't worked yet.
Democrats have a much easier job of pinning the blame on Republicans. The average person knows that Republicans have a history of coming into office and shutting the government down. They also watch Republicans like Pence yelling for it to be shut down.

The Republicans have to fight against their own narrative to blame the Democrats.
1. Republicans say Democrats love big government. Why would they shut down the thing they love?
2. Republicans say government is the problem. It makes sense that they would try to kill government.

[CuteOldGuy]

Hate to admit it, but Longer is right. Boehner caved. Spend, spend, spend. As long as the country is going to hell, might as well enjoy the ride.

[SinsOfTheFlesh]

So they trimmed $38 billion. That is like going to the barber for a haircut, and literally doing exactly that - trimming one single hair. That is less than 2% of the total budget. What a joke. At this rate, we'll have a balanced budget sometime around 2400 AD.

[Starry69]

Boehner caved. Spend, spend, spend.

The Republicans got the cuts they asked for. This "shut down" was apparently about items such as defunding NPR, planned parenthood, and removing EPA oversight from coal mining.

As far as spending goes, those are pretty minor issues.

Early on the tea baggers insisted they weren't about social issues. Now their true agenda is coming to the fore now.

[john_galt]

Those social issues cost money as well. It is a win-win to end an unnecessary program and retain the savings. Still it is only a small drop. I would like to see a 5% across the board cut to all cabinet departments and that would include defense. The department heads would have to figure out what to cut. Of course those department heads can be trusted to make the right choices by keeping essential services and not using their finite funds to give bonuses to their friends. If the department heads fail to do their job right because of corruption or incompetence they can be fired.
We shall see because this is only a reprieve.
I hope even our most vociferous liberals on this site recognized the need to reduce spending immediately. The democrats should be engaged in the process instead of being obstructionists or absent from the scene.

[Cheaper2buyit]

Cut their pay no more life time salarys let them sleep in their offices and for Gods sake let a woman abort if she wants to abort this is the land of the free right.

[Cheaper2buyit]

Plus jg got another gay avatar

[john_galt]

You're the one with a woman as an avatar but we assume that you have testicles. I bet that is one ugly woman under the veil.

[Cheaper2buyit]

I have nuts and i will vote for anyone that will work for 30k 3meals and a cot

[Gryphon]

Boehner is actually looking like the big political winner here, and scoring political points is what this was all about from the beginning--as pointed out above, the "fight" was over pocket change compared to the overall budget. But with only partial control of the weakest of the three institutions (House, Senate, & Presidency) Boehner was able to parlay the intransigence of the Tea Party into enough leverage to get almost everything he wanted, then got the Tea Party wing of his caucus to accept getting what he wanted rather than what they wanted.

I really couldn't care less about the actual outcome because it wouldn't make any real difference regardless. But I admire skill, and Boehner has demonstrated that he's a player to be reckoned with.

[Philhelm]

I was all giddy about a government shutdown, then they cave. What a bunch of cock teases.