It’s Not Dems vs. GOP
All politics is local.
—Tip O’Neill
None of these Republicans are going to feel it in their districts. Their districts love this stuff.
—Jim Vandehei, Politico
The current fight over the government shutdown isn’t between Republicans and Democrats. It’s between incumbent Republicans and their fear of a Tea Party primary challenge. One does not succeed in elected office by being indifferent to one’s own survival. There is little incentive for incumbent House Republicans to be reasonable, and every political incentive for them to be obstructionist and to blow up the government.
And there’s a twisted sort of logic to this dynamic. If you have a nihilist, knee-jerk view of government being evil and the scary, socialist source of all problems, then why wouldn’t you want it shut down?
It’s analogous to how cigarettes aren’t bad for you because they’re misused—they’re deadly because they’re used precisely as intended.
Gerrymandering has resulted not only in Congressional delegations that don’t reflect the expressed preferences of the voters of their states, but in monochromatic incumbents who fear a primary challenge from their right far more than anything close to a competitive general election.
So while I’m not unsympathetic to Speaker Boehner’s predicament and believe him to be less than thrilled about the above dynamic, Democrats are well within their rights to push back against the absurd portrayal of this as some sort of partisan tug-of-war between two equally culpable parties.
As is often the case, Jon Stewart put it best last night:
See, I think that’s what happened 2 years ago and now the GOP thinks they can get away with this behavior again. Has anyone clearly demonstrated hardship because of the “sequester”??
No, it isn’t D v. R anymore. It’s “mainstream” centrist Rs v. RWNJs, and, unfortunately, it looks like the Teahadists (or Talibaptists, or whatever we’re calling them today) are winning. Our President and the Democrats in the Senate and Congress canNOT back down.
Jon Stewart and his writers are sometimes all that stands between us and despair.
Another essay on the problem. this guy doesn’t think the Dems have the backbone, guts or balls to fix the problem. http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/270-37/19661-focus-the-reign-of-morons-is-here?
what really annoys me is the ‘other side’ excuse. tell me, if the ‘other side’ jumped off a bridge, would they then jump off the bridge and blame the ‘other side’ for their broken legs?
and, since when do two wrongs make a right? it’s past time for the Rs to own up and accept responsibility for their own words and actions. no more blaming the ‘other side.’
Stewart and his writers are brilliant!
Jon Stewart summed it up perfectly!
If anyone caves to the GOP bullies/baffoons, they will be back for more, and more….