My goodness, but it seems like a long time ago that Ted Cruz was haranguing his allegedly fellow Pachyderms that he could singlehandedly defund ObamaCare as part of a new continuing resolution and force Barack Obama to sign it, and denouncing any colleague who questioned the efficacy of that so-called "strategy" as part of the "Surrender Caucus". Heck, it seems like ages since one-sixth of the government shut down, thus illustrating how much of federal spending is on automatic pilot and garishly illustrating both why Obamerika is the brokest nation in the cosmos (by design) and how little the American people need Big Government, even though it's only been a couple of weeks. Which is odd, because I thought time was supposed to fly when one was having fun.
So let's take stock: What has Shutdowngeddon accomplished? Aside from the allusion above....
1) We've learned just how big a thug Red Barry is; that, combined with the ObamaCare rollout disaster, has actually driven his approval numbers down to Bush-second-term territory, and in actuality probably lower;
2) Obamedia dominance and the cognitive catatonia of the bulk of the American people are both undiminished, as Republican approval numbers have cratered to historically low levels (28%) - i.e. significantly lower than O's (37%), and most likely lower even correcting for media polling bias;
3) Republicans, under the leadership of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, have proven to be far less "RINOesqe" and "establishmentarian" than Tea Partiers stridently claimed. Only the usual handful of "centrists" - eighteen in the House ("King's court"?), a proportionately smaller number in the Senate - clucked for a "clean" CR, and got precisely nowhere. The rest have hung tough - so far.
4) However, so have the Democrats. Why? Because they think they hold all the cards. Or more than we do, at the very least.
First, while The One's approval rating is in the toilet, that no longer matters to him, because he'll never face any manner of election ever again; he's got power, and in his mind, power trumps elections, the law, the Constitution, and everything else. His crackdowns at memorials and national parks across the country have been but the tiniest taste of what's to come.
Second, they believe that time is on their side. With no media pressure coming their direction, and with the debt ceiling deadline approaching, they believe they have the GOP in a vice, and all they have to do is squeeze. Once Thursday rolls around and there's no more borrowing authority, the media will be in full banshee mode, Da Peepul will no longer remember why the shutdown happened and stand ready to blame the GOP for whatever happens next, and Republicans will panic and stampede to fold their hand, and King Hussein will have their unconditional surrender. Which is ironic, since I would think that TPers would have predicted this from the start and eschewed a confrontation strategy for precisely this reason.
Third, if 'pubbie resolve is stronger than they anticipate, that's just fine with them, because a default gives their "messiah" the crisis he needs to finish the coup that started seven weeks before the 2008 presidential election. And truth be told, I think that's what they're counting on the Tea Party delivering to them on an engraved silver platter.
In short, a win-win proposition. Only difference is how soon they can open the celebratory bubbly.
But let's step back from the abyssal precipice and assume that some sort of a deal is reached. Will it include "defunding" ObamaCare? Nope. A blanket delay? Nope. Individual mandate delay? Nope. Repeal of the medical device tax? Maybe, but probably doubtful.
So what was this flurry of activity over the weekend? Are you sure you want to know?:
Senate Republicans and Democrats hit an impasse Sunday over spending in their last-ditch struggle to avoid an economy-jarring default in just four days and end a partial government shutdown that enters its third week.
After inconclusive talks between President Barack Obama and House Republicans....
Wherein O reneged on his professed willingness from last week to sign a short-term debt ceiling hike.
....Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-NV, and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, took charge in trying to end the crises although no resolution seemed imminent.After the White House had announced last Friday that Dirty Harry was being sidelined from the "negotiations". Anybody got any Dramamine I could borrow?
"Americans want Congress to compromise," Reid said at the start of a rare Sunday session in the Senate in which he pressed for a long-term budget deal.
Too late... <brrrrrrracccccckkkkhhhklklhllkkl>
<wheeze><gulp> I thought Reid was the one who was supposed to be staked to a runaway carousel.
<cough><ahem> Anyway, here's what they're quibbling over now:
The two cagy [???] negotiators are at loggerheads over Democratic demands to undo or change the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts to domestic and defense programs that the GOP see as crucial to reducing the nation's deficit.
IOW, we started by pushing for curtailing ObamaCare, and now they're pushing for repealing the Sequester - and we haven't yielded any significant ground. Which ought to illustrate the futility of trying to bluff an opponent that is convinced of his own invincibility, even when you're not bluffing. They simply do not know anything but offense; the very concept of defense is as foreign to them as virtue, morality, and honor. They're demanding more than unconditional surrender; a "clean" CR and debt ceiling hike are no longer enough. Now they want to "dirty" it up by undoing the GOP's big win from the 2011 Debtageddon. Plus another tax increase, I'd wager. And if they don't get it, then no deal, we smash into the debt ceiling, the government defaults, the media fall upon the GOP like piranha on a sickly wildebeest, and Da Peepul cheer on Dear Leader as he assumes "temporary emergency" powers and takes Republicans AND Tea Partiers into "protective" custody.
I hope it hasn't started snowing yet in Yellowstone; I hate winter weather.
Would it turn out that way? A global defaultapocalypse? Eh, maybe:
Of course, this outcome is going to happen sooner or later, in the absence of an about-face change in fiscal policy direction that the voters (allegedly) rejected a year ago. It is inevitable. If it doesn't come now, that day of reckoning is not far off. And when it does land with both feet, Barack Obama will be there to exploit it.
So....what has the GOP to lose by forcing it now, on its own terms? In for a penny, in for a pound, right? Such seems to be the Senate Republican sentiment:
Republicans dismiss the latest request as Reid moving the goalposts in negotiations as they were getting closer to resolving the stalemate that has paralyzed Washington. They also argue that it is disingenuous for Democrats to resist any changes in the 3-year-old health care law while trying to undo the 2011 budget law that put the cuts on track.
"I think the Democrats are on the verge of being one tick too cute as they see the House possibly in disarray — they now are overreaching, and I think that what we've got to do is get this back in the middle of the road, act like adults," said Senator Bob Corker, R-TN.
[Senator Lindsey] Graham [RINO-SC] and Senator Rand Paul, R-KY, said they would not support any deal that upends the spending limits imposed by the 2011 law, and predicted that their Senate GOP colleagues would oppose it as well.
Plus the House and its fractious Republicans remained a possible headache in the coming week.
"I think at this point we've got to figure out a way to get something out of the Senate that we think is close enough for the House to accept," Corker said.
And so we head for "the undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns."
Exit question: Who's bringing the Fritos? 'cause I've got the chili cheese bacon dip.
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