Why Republicans Are Desperate For A Shutdown - E.J. Dionne/WaPo

[WillyT]

Why Republicans are desperate for a shutdown
By E.J. Dionne Jr. - WaPo
Published: September 18, 2013

<snip>

The coming battles over budgets, the debt ceiling, a government shutdown and Obamacare are not elements of a large political game. They involve a fundamental showdown over the role of government in stemming rising inequality and making our country a fairer and more decent place.

Anyone who doesn’t see this should be forgiven. The stakes in this battle are almost always buried in news accounts about tactics and obscured by an unquenchable desire across the media to provide the latest take on whether President Obama is growing “weak” and has already become the lamest of lame ducks.

Yes, Obama has work to do in quelling doubts about his leadership. But little of what we’re hearing offers enlightenment as to why this big argument is happening in the first place, and why it matters.

To begin with, this is not just a fight between Republicans and Democrats. The GOP is clearly divided between those who take governing seriously — they still believe in government enough to accept responsibility for keeping it open — and those who see in every issue the “final conflict” that Marxists kept predicting. Stopping Obamacare, in their view, is necessary to prevent the country from reaching the end of the road to serfdom. Compared with this hellish prospect, who cares about shutdowns?

What’s fascinating, and this speaks to the perceived power of the tea party in primaries, is that it has taken only a small minority of House Republicans to push toward Armageddon. The Post’s Lori Montgomery and Paul Kane estimated that roughly 40 conservatives revolted against their leadership’s efforts to keep the government open past Sept. 30. That’s 40 in a 435-member House of Representatives. What’s become of us when less than 10 percent of one chamber of Congress can unleash chaos? What does this say about the House Republican leadership gap?

But it’s also important to understand why the Republican right is so fixated on killing or delaying Obama­care before it goes into effect. Its central worry is not that the program will fail but that it will succeed...

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More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-republicans-are-desperate-for-a-shutdown/2013/09/18/1f59e80c-207e-11e3-94a2-6c66b668ea55_story.html

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. A big K&R!

[riderinthestorm]

2. Wow! Great article and insight. K&R nt

[kentuck]

3. K & R

Good read.

[winter is coming]

4. Great piece. Thanks! n/t

[Snake Plissken]

5. I used to think the baggers in Washington were crazy, but they're really not

They're just lowlife dirtbags who couldn't care less about anyone but themselves. They're primary goal is to hang out for a term or two and make Washington as dysfunctional as possible, then bail out to be lobbyists for the billionaire filth that funded their elections.

When they are asked for a plan or solution, they just ignore the request and blame Obama for whatever happens to be the topic of discussion, and that is exactly what their unhinged shit-for-brains base wants.

[bluesbassman]

6. Good point Snake. I call it "governance by blame".

They really have no plan, and just default to the "free market" meme when pushed for details on how the country is supposed to move forward.

And BTW, your lowlife dirtbag tag is being too kind.

[blkmusclmachine]

7. Will the Dems FINALLY stand their ground against the lunatic GOPee, or cave to its every whim???

[bearssoapbox]

8. "Its central worry is not that the program will fail but that it will succeed..."

One of the things that's making them(the Grand Obstructionist Party) so crazy is that in spite of their best efforts to derail him, President Obama has been succeeding in his efforts to dig the country out of the almost bottomless pit of bad policies and decisions that he inherited.

Their hatred for him and their desire to want him to fail borders on the psychotic.

I can almost see one of those crazy bastards pull a gun during a meeting or gathering, scream "GOD BLESS AMERICA!!! WE'RE TAKING OUR COUNTRY BACK!!!"

and....

I really think a few have it in them. All it's going to take is President Obama handing them their asses, separately or collectively, one to many times.