I think this is really a power struggle within the Republican Party.

[Motown_Johnny]

11. Agreed, and the Teabaggers will blame it on the (R)s that are not conservative enough

That is the whole idea.

They want to run the traditional Republicans out of office and get their own kind in office. I expect they are willing to take losses for a couple cycles in order to try and pick up Teabagger seats in 2018.

The House is so gerrymandered that they could lose by a landslide and still have a majority, or be very near a majority. When you add in (D)s that do things like vote to repeal parts of the ACA then the Teabaggers really have very little to lose, even in the short term.

Then consider that in that in their eyes, the (R)s that will lose their seats in '14 and '16 aren't conservative enough for their tastes anyways and they really have nothing to lose at all.


This all adds up to a real mess as far as the shutdown and the debt ceiling fight goes. There isn't really anything reasonable that can be done because the other side is fighting a different fight.