October 11, 2013

Republicans have begun to realize that shutting down the government wasn’t a good idea politically and have discovered that there are parts of it that they like, or can pretend to. Hence the rush to exempt selected functions and the dishonest attempt to blame the Democrats for not restoring those functions, i.e., for rejecting the GOP’s demand to defund the Affordable Care Act, or parts of it, or delay it, or parts of it, or whatever the fallback demand du jour might be. As Froma Harrop put it in a recent column, "The more modest the Republican demands, the nuttier they sound. Pious posturing does not alter the fact that we’re viewing an extortion racket."

Attempts to explain or justify their tactics have tied Republicans in knots. Ted Cruz has managed to cancel his own arguments; his obsession with the Affordable Care Act has led to shutting down the government, but he said on Monday that the furlough of civilian intelligence workers — caused by the shutdown — "creates ‘a dream scenario for terrorists and enemies.’ " [98]  Here’s another example from Sam-I-Am, aptly described as cognitive dissonance:

Consider these two Ted Cruz statements, alongside one another:
1. "Will the U.S. default on its debt? . . . The answer is of course not."
2. "The debt ceiling historically has been among the best leverage that Congress has to rein in the executive."
. . . [O]ne might be given to wonder, what good is using the debt ceiling as a leverage point if the U.S. isn't going to default on its debt? The threat of default is the leverage.[99]

In addition to the contradiction, the second statement isn’t true.

Some Republicans simply are too ignorant to hold any public office. A state representative from Arizona referred to "National Park Service thugs" carrying out "the order of De Fuhrer." [100]  Okay, Arizona legislators aren’t required to know German definite articles, but her comment, comparing Obama to Hitler is absurd, foolish and vicious. Here’s Congressman Ted Yoho on not raising the debt ceiling, which will lead to default: "I think, personally, it would bring stability to the world markets."[101]

One of the problems with Republicans — the "base" and, to a considerable extent, elected officials — is that they have no national or party memory, apart from fuzzy and partly false impressions of the Reagan era. When they presented their demand that Obamacare be defunded as the price of keeping the government open, they seemed unaware that holding the government hostage is irresponsible, that it isn’t standard practice and that the shutdowns triggered by Gingrich hardly were a rousing success.

Some Republicans and some editorial writers have been bold enough to point out the fallacy and danger in the House tactic; even The Issaquah-Sammamish Reporter, not a leftist publication, joined in: "Blame some House Republicans for using the shutdown tactic in order to delay — or, what they really want, to kill — the Affordable Health Care Act. Their actions are a disservice to the American public." The principal, or original, blame does fall on the reactionary few, but it falls also on the abettors, including Speaker John Boehner.

Boehner, who certainly must know better, has gone along because he has no control over his caucus. Faced with the need to justify the shutdown, and desperate to blame the President, he claimed that Mr. Obama demands "unconditional surrender." That’s hardly the case but, if in the end Boehner folds, he’ll regret so labeling his retreat.

Of course, none of this may matter; the Republicans may escape without the political punishment they deserve. In addition to the fair and balanced treatment of the news on Fox, the MSM will do their part to spread them blame. On Tuesday, Andrea Mitchell presented a segment on the NBC Nightly News about the suspension of death benefits to service families due to the shutdown. It consisted entirely of references to affected families without political comment. Apparently someone noted the omission, so on Wednesday night she presented the same clips, prefaced by a comment, in which she could not contain her outrage, blaming it on the White House. Let’s see; the House Republicans, blatantly playing the hostage game, have refused to fund the government, leading to nonpayment of benefits, so it’s the administration’s fault.

Also, as Salon’s Alex Pareene said recently, "Never underestimate the ability of Democrats to lose a standoff with a bunch of deluded nuts. Democrats don’t have a Cruz, they have an Obama, who is always more than willing to attempt to give the deluded nuts at least some of what they claim to demand." Rumor has it that the concession may be a hit to Medicare and Social Security.

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98. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/08/cruz-national-security_n_4064121.html >
99. Jason Linkins, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/08/debt-ceiling-deniers _n_4065363. html?utm_hp_ref=politics
100. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/07/brenda-barton-arizona-fuhrer_n_4059965.html
101 http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/10/07/2740271/yoho-debt-ceiling-markets