patrick.net

Are you honestly trying to blame this government shutdown on the Democrats? That's laughable by any standard.

Republicans blamed for shutdown; Ventura: shutdown is 'despicable'

Q: Who's to blame for government shutdown? A: the Republican party

There is no question whatsoever to any reasonable person that the government shutdown isn't entirely due to the Republican Party trying to obstruct Obamacare. Whether or not that is a good thing is another issue, but the government shutdown is clearly ENTIRELY the Republican's fault.

In the end, however, we have a pretty good sense of how this will turn out. The government will shut down for a few days, but perhaps more; and the US will come perilously close to a debt default. In the end, however, semi-sane Republicans will come to their senses, concede defeat and pass a budget resolution and debt limit extension with Democratic support.

That the US will have come to such a pass – for no reason other than the extremism of the Republican party – is an important reminder of who is blame for the governing dysfunction that has come to define the US democracy today.

Pressing the "ignore" button is perhaps fairly easy to do in cases like this post.

Honest Abe says

Harassing WW2 vets and sightseers during the shutdown is for the common good (tm), right?

Yes. Right. When the democrats shut down the govt, they were hoping upon hope they could harass some WW2 vets. That's quite a bonus for them commie liberals.

Or is it that republicans shut down the government, and its all their fault for using this tactic. And now they are scrambling so hard to come up with some spin against the democrats. This war memorial BS is the best they could come up with.

Republicans: "We are the sane ones who want to gradually reopen the government one part at a time. That is for the programs we like, and just leave obamacare and a few other unfunded. ....What, is it too transparent what we're doing ? You don't think a small radical faction within congress should be able to gerrymander districts, and then ultimately threaten to blow up the economy if they don't get their way ?"

Honest Abe says

The Socialist Party of America lists 70 Democratic Congressmen in its party ranks.

Really ? Could you back this up ? As far as I can tell that party has hardly existed since the mid seventies.

As far as I know, Vermont's Bernie Sanders is just about the only socialist in the house or the Senate.

Honest Abe says

Harassing WW2 vets and sightseers during the shutdown is for the common good (tm), right?

The Kenyan Usurper's treatment of those patriotic men sickened and disgusted me. Flagrant disrespect!

Obummer showed none of the humble grace of our previous president, who placed so many of our troops lovingly in boxes, each draped respectfully with an American flag.

Honest Abe says

Harassing WW2 vets and sightseers during the shutdown is for the common good (tm), right?

The Republicans shut down the government. As a result, the rent-a-cops at the WW2 memorial weren't going to get paid right away --- nevermind that they are getting paid vacation time for the entire government shutdown, but they have to wait until after the shutdown is over to receive the checks -- so the rent-a-cops throw a hissy fit and go out of their way to lock up the memorial, even though it literally costs nothing to keep it open. But the rent-a-cops are pissed off that they will have to wait for their paychecks, so they make a stink about it.

And you blame the Democrats for that? I'd blame the rent-a-cops for having a tantrum, maybe the Republicans for shut down the government, but certainly not the Democrats.

There's a lot of things you can blame the Democrats for. This isn't one of them.

9. How many times has the government shut down in the past? Since 1977, there have been 17 shutdowns, according to the Congressional Research Service.

11. When was the longest shutdown in history? The longest was also the most recent: from Dec. 16, 1995, through Jan. 5, 1996. That's 21 days.

12. Would this shutdown be different from those in the 1990s? Yes. When the 1995 shutdown started, Congress had already passed three of 13 appropriations bills. (They funded military construction, agriculture, and energy and water projects.) Also, more government services are automated.

I would argue it is Congress as a whole rather than one party. But in a sense Obama argued against raising the debt ceiling when he was a senator so what changed?

The whole argument about Obamacare is really from Ted Cruz not Bohner.