Posted on 10/09/2013 12:00:42 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
If you thought Republicans weren’t serious about a debt default, think again.
While Democrats refuse to negotiate on the continuing resolution and the debt limit, apparently assuming the GOP will eventually cave, House Republicans insist they are prepared to bring borrowing authority to a screeching halt.
“I can assure you it’s not posturing. It’s not a political play or anything like that,” Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., told CQ Roll Call on Tuesday.
Gingrey said Republicans were “absolutely” prepared to lose the House to extract concessions on the CR and the debt limit, and he said the White House is “missing the determination of the Republican Party.”
“I mean, they seem to think that we will miss this opportunity for a ‘Braveheart’ moment to do the right thing for the American people and that we’ll back down for fear of losing the House and not gaining control of the Senate,” Gingrey said.
President Barack Obama held a news conference Tuesday during which he reiterated his position that Democrats would not negotiate with Republicans “for the mere act of reopening the government or paying our bills.”
But Republicans insist Obama will have to negotiate if he wants the debt ceiling raised, and it is that impasse that makes a debt default far more likely than many anticipate.
“I don’t think he’s going to win a game of chicken,” said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., about Obama’s “no negotiations” position.
House Republicans were expected to pass a bill Tuesday evening that would create a bipartisan, bicameral working group to address the current fiscal impasse.
The don’t-call-it-a-supercommittee Bicameral Working Group on Deficit Reduction and Economic Growth is supposed to force Democrats to the negotiating table — or at least provide more political cover for Republicans.
Democrats are skeptical, and the White House has issued a veto threat. Obama said he’d be willing to consider adding a process for negotiations to a short-term debt limit increase — provided that it’s not a “concession” to the GOP.
“I know that Speaker [John A.] Boehner has talked about setting up some new process or some new supercommittee or what have you,” Obama said. “You know, the leaders up in Congress, they can work through whatever processes they want, but the bottom line is, either you’re having good-faith negotiations in which there’s give-and-take, or you’re not.”
Good-faith negotiations, for Obama, means the GOP has to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling for at least a short-term basis.
That seems to be a nonstarter for Republicans.
“There can be no movement until they come to the table,” said Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.
Massie seemed to believe, like many in the GOP, that Republicans hold the better public relations position on the shutdown and the debt limit, and that Democrats have blundered.
“I think they miscalculated their message,” Massie said. “They have the wrong message. [The] American public is not going to respond well to a president or a Senate that is not going to negotiate. That’s a horrible message for them.”
But Democrats feel they have a winning argument.
House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, D-Md., indicated Tuesday that he thought Americans were sick of the posturing and mini-CRs the House has passed.
“It is a game. It is a pretense without substance and without principle. It’s all politics,” Hoyer said.
While Republicans and Democrats are at a negotiating impasse, it is the communications impasse that is perhaps more alarming.
Asked whether the White House had miscalculated the determination of House Republicans to extract concessions on the debt limit even with the threat of default looming, Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, said, “You hit the nail on the head there — that’s exactly the problem.”
While Farenthold cautioned that he can’t read the president’s or Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s minds — “I’m not sure I’d want to if I could” — he said both had misjudged the GOP’s stance on raising the debt ceiling.
“It’s about what’s good for America; it’s not about politics,” Farenthold said.
Indeed, Republicans seem to believe they’d do more harm by passing a no-strings-attached debt ceiling hike than by defaulting.
“The only thing more irresponsible or insane than the president letting us default on our debt would be the president’s demand that we increase the federal debt ceiling without addressing our nation’s spending problem,” said Rep. Lynn Jenkins, R-Kan., at a GOP leadership press conference Tuesday.
For many Republicans, the shutdown and the debt limit have nothing to do with politics. And according to one senior GOP lawmaker, that’s precisely the miscalculation from the White House and the Senate that could lead to a debt default.
“The White House and the Senate need to figure they’re playing with fire,” the lawmaker said.
The lawmaker told CQ Roll Call that the White House is “still sort of locked in the old school that, ‘We won’t shut down the government, we won’t default.’
“And here we are in a shutdown, and they think they’re just going to play politics,” the lawmaker said. “And they got to understand that there are people that are real committed to doing something big and doing something effective. That’s why they came here.”
The lawmaker added that the White House never established relationships with members, that the White House doesn’t understand “especially the sophomore class, and they underestimate their willpower.”
The senior GOP lawmaker said it was never the speaker’s plan to shut down the government or default. And yet the government is closed, and default, a once unthinkable proposition, is a real possibility.
“That’s what I’m saying,” the lawmaker said.
“They think it’s all just politics. It’s not. These guys, a lot of our conference, a majority, are committed to doing something big. It’s why they ran, it’s why they came here,” the lawmaker said. “And they keep thinking it’s politics.”
Go read redstate (I couldn’t sleep so I came here to check the latest news..) Erick Erickson has a great piece on strategy!
I endorse his approach and think we all should call Boehner, and our Republican Reps to let them know we think so as well..
As a matter of fact, I just finished reading his post.
He wants the 2 issues - government funding and debt limit - decoupled. He believes that they will have a better chance if they’re kept separate.
http://www.redstate.com/2013/10/09/this-is-the-strategy-now-do-it/
"Speaking to reporters at the White House, Obama said that if House Republicans re-opened the government and lifted the nation’s borrowing authority — even for a few months — he would enter into wide-ranging talks that could include his signature healthcare law and issues related to the debt.
“If they want to do that, reopen the government. Extend the debt ceiling. If they can’t do it for a long time, do it for the period of time in which these negotiations are taking place,” Obama said......" Boehner rejects Obama's offer for short-term debt, shutdown deal
Obama is counting on the compliant Obama media to frame the argument and the "facts" in order to make him appear reasonable and the conservatives as "hostages takers" and "terrorists" until they give him all he wants.
Obama does not care if the government shuts down. His goal (also Reid's and Pelosi's goal) is to break Tea Party conservative influence on the Hill. The battle is to tear out the heart and long-term commitment of their opposition in 2014/2016 and have one party government.
Good one.
Here’s another.
________________
Commandancy of the The Alamo
Bejar, Feby. 24th. 1836
To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World—
Fellow Citizens & compatriots—
I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna — I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man — The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken — I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls — I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch — The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country — Victory or Death.
William Barrett Travis.
Lt. Col. comdt.
P. S. The Lord is on our side — When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn — We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels and got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.
Travis
Stand your ground GOP. Because I think we are about to see a meltdown on the other side.
Bottom line, the question is asked, “Who is to blame for the shutdown”?
Public: GOP
The truth means nothing...
You’re absolutely right about what the baby in chief wants and if the GOP gives in to him there will be no negotiations. He is lying just like always.
Agreed. Obama-Reid-Pelosi-MSM are doing everything they can to drive a wedge and create division in the growing ranks of opposition now coalescing on the Hill.
Their aim is to shut down the growing influence (and numbers) of Tea Party conservatives (render them toothless in 2014-16).
To some extent this is true. But the MSM needs examples, interviewees, to pour on the coals and really make their pathetic case. This is becoming more and more difficult because the young GOP conservatives they have to talk to to make that case are smart, quick, and unrelenting. A good case in point yesterday was Andrea Mitchell's interview of the GOP congressman who handed her ass back to her on a silver platter. Be encouraged - we sent some pretty fantastic people to Congress in 2010 and they are raising hell. They pushed Boehner into a corner and they made him grow a spine for once. They pushed Obama into behaving like he really is - a two-year old brat that needs a diaper change and a nap. Obama's petty actions on Parks, Death Benefits for Fallen Soldiers, Monument Closings, et al is going to bite him in the ass. It wouldn't surprise me that his ego is going to make him do something stupid like hold up Social Security Checks this month just because he can. And, if he does that, then I'll just count that check of mine as money well spent if it stops his tyrannical ass.
Thanks for the encouragement, I hope you’re right. The MSM is all-powerful to a (want to be) duped populace.
The GOP is losing in:
a. The Mainstream Media
b. The Washington social circuit
But it is winning eve3rywhere else...
This is good news.
“Winning everywhere else” is fantastic but NOT ENOUGH these days. The fact that the People support or are against an issue does not matter anymore. The truth is irrelevant. The media molds the minds...
The GOPe already bargained itself way down—and they’re still simply trying to get to the negotiating table.
But at least they’re not totally folding immediately.
The longer this goes, the more people tune in to figure out what in the Sam Hill is going on. The more they tune in, the less they represent low information voters who can be duped by a dupicitous press. Obama loses the longer this goes, which is why they are becoming hysterical.
There’s definitely a divide and conquer approach being taken.
Yesterday I had two coworkers talking near my cube about the shutdown. One commented that there was a majority in the House (Dems plus a few Republicans) to reopen the government ... but Boehner wouldn’t hold a vote that would let them.
So I turn around and (innocently) ask: “Why aren’t the Democrats using a discharge petition?”
“What’s that”
“Its a petition from House members to have an immediate floor vote on something. All it takes is more than half the membership to sign and the Speaker gets overridden and a vote must be held”
“Really?”
“Yeah. If the Dems could put together a majority to support a vote, they could have it whenever they want.”
I really wish this was true. I feel like election night, 2012 when the GOP was CONFIDENT. How can he lose? MSM is blasting away and hysterics can and will dupe the country into believing that the GOP is holding the country up or hostage. I'd like to hear a realistic assessment from somebody not swayed by their (our) dislike for POTUS...
“The don’t-call-it-a-supercommittee Bicameral Working Group on Deficit Reduction and Economic Growth is supposed to force Democrats to the negotiating table — or at least provide more political cover for Republicans.”
This is where Lucy pulls the football away from Charlie Crown — in conference committees. If the House goes for this you’ll know it was the House that ‘blinked’ in this stand-off.
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