One month after the shutdown ended, Lee and Cruz are sitting pretty

Daily Caller ^ | November 16, 2013 | Christopher Bedford

[Cincinatus' Wife]

It’s Nov. 16, 2013, and the partial government shutdown ended one month ago today.

In those four weeks, and the two prior, everything conservatives said would happen has happened. What’s more, the Democrats’ united stand against them has turned into a retreat — and is primed to become a rout — as they amend Obamacare’s disastrous rollout, President Barack Obama apologizes for his failures, and electorally vulnerable Democrats break ranks and flee.

Hell, even the polls that D.C.’s Republican pundits shrieked, wept and clawed over show the Grand Old Party has bounced back while the Democrats have fallen behind. Because, in the end, real people simply weren’t affected by the shutdown, so they won’t vote on it — a distinction Obamacare does not share.

It’s clear now that the whole shutdown thing could have been avoided if Mr. Obama had been willing to bend on his signature health-care law — something reality has since forced him to do, and something he will likely have to continue to do — instead of accusing the Republicans of being “terrorists” who are holding the country captive.

And rather than crashing, as the president predicted, the private sector survived just fine without government. Obama’s specific prediction — “I mean whatever effect Obamacare might have on the economy is far less than even a few days of government shutdown” — turned out to be precisely wrong.

Finally, the events of the last month have shown that Sens. Ted Cruz and Mike Lee were correct to make a final stand against the law, and it’s really the president and his policies that are terrorizing the country.

Because since Obamacare has come into effect, millions have seen their health-care plans cancelled; enrollment numbers have lagged 80 percent behind the White House’s predictions; every facet of the sign-up process has failed to deliver; and some of the very “navigators” who are supposed to make all that easier have been exposed as criminals.

And for the two weeks that preceded this debacle, the story is one of Republicans fighting with everything they had to save the country from what they saw coming.

“The Republican Party’s favorable ratings fell substantially in most every national survey that uses this yard stick, declining to 28 percent in the Gallup poll at one point,” The Wall Street Journal reported on Nov. 7. “Yet when the GOP was matched up against the Democrats on key political measures, it did not look so bad.”

A Pew Research poll cited by the Journal and taken on Oct. 15 — the height of the shutdown “crisis” — showed that respondents judged Republicans ”better able to deal with the economy” 44 percent to 37 percent, and “better able to manage the government” 42 to 39 percent. Just 11 months before, Pew’s results had Democrats “better able to manage the government” by 45 to 36 percent. Not bad, for the end of the world.

Additionally, a Quinnipiac University poll released Thursday showed the Republicans hadn’t suffered any lasting damage for their stand against Obamacare: Voters are split 39 to 39 percent on which party they’d support in a congressional election today — a nine-point slide from the day the shutdown began, when Democrats were ahead 43 to 34 percent. And in that poll, Republicans won on independents, 37 to 26 percent.

But there is someone who has taken a lot of heat for the law, and that’s the president, who on Friday had an average approval rating of 41.5 percent.

It “isn’t a perfect relationship, but presidential job approval is still the most important variable for how his party fares in midterm elections,” Real Clear Politics reported on Friday.

“The best midterm showing for the party of a president with a sub-45 percent job approval came in 1950,” the article continues, “when the Democrats lost 11 percent of their caucus.”

Throughout September and October, Americans were forced to suffer the pundit class predicting doom for fractured Republicans and lamenting the Democrats’ united front. On Thursday, we saw Mr. Obama admit to failure, and apologize to the American people. On Friday, we saw 39 House Democrats vote for a Republican Obamacare bill the president has threatened to veto.

This isn’t to suggest that Messrs. Lee and Cruz get the credit for the Democrats’ Obamacare debacle — they took a bold public stand, but they don’t. But we dare suggest one thing: that Republican pundits come out from hiding underneath their covers, change their bed sheets, and not play Chicken Little again. It’s unbecoming. And it’s stupid.

And it just isn’t so.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

A main point made by Cruz & Co. during the "filibuster" and the the partial government shutdown, was that Obamacare has killed jobs, cut hours and stopped the economy from taking off again.

I guess the private sector isn't as important as its government overlords.

But it is the private sector that fuels the economy that government feeds off of.

[JLS]

Personally, I think the shutdown made it clear to most of the public that the GOP was against Obamacare.

That said, Gov. Palin being correct time after time after time, and being right has onlybrought more heat from the left that is believed by idiot Dim base . So why would anyone expect Cruz and Lee get anything positive out of being correct and the Dims being wrong?

[Personal Responsibility]

Obama’s specific prediction — “I mean whatever effect Obamacare might have on the economy is far less than even a few days of government shutdown”

---

Obama is a classic narcissist. Everything is always about him. This quote can be attributed to “everyone I know” syndrome. Everyone Obama knows is in government. That means his personal experiences with the shutdown and Obamacare are:

1) Shutdown - everyone he knows is in government. The shutdown affects everyone he knows

2) Obamacare - government has exempted themselves from it. Obamacare doesn’t affect anyone he knows

That’s why he said “whatever effect Obamacare might have on the economy is far less than even a few days of government shutdown”

It’s also why he’s wrong.

[JPG]

pre·scient ˈpreSH(ē)ənt,ˈprē-/Submit adjective 1. having or showing knowledge of events before they take place. "a prescient warning" synonyms: prophetic, predictive, visionary

[tflabo]

Still can’t trust the general public to do the right thing.
Some may be mad at Dems but they will vote for them just the same. The GOP message is crap-—thats why we need Ted Cruz, Mike Lee types out front, well articulating the conservative message to win over as many sane people as possible. We just better hope it eventually exceeds the eternal dopes and dupes who will vote for Rats no matter what.let them lose their Dem induced health insurance as a wake up call if that’s even possible.

[bigbob]

Who could have predicted that only a short month after the Oct. 1 launch of Obamacare, we’d be seeing headlines like “Democrat Rebellion” and “Democrats Running Away from Obamacare” and “Democrat Disarray”?

[Blackirish]

No the shutdown was a stupid idea and Cruz and Lee deserve the blame. The public hates shutdowns. With the media blaming the Republicans there’s no chance they will work. Already Lee is backpedaling. He gave a excellent policy speech that did not include anything about future shutdowns. The Republican Utah Mormans are pissed. His approval ratings are down 10 points and the business community may very well primary him out of office.

[Agamemnon]

Who could have predicted that only a short month after the Oct. 1 launch of Obamacare, we’d be seeing headlines like “Democrat Rebellion” and “Democrats Running Away from Obamacare” and “Democrat Disarray”?

Some of us have been saying all along that Obama would be done in by his own. This point has routinely been lost on a number of the all-is-lost "Eeyore Coven" that often populates threads around here.

Ignore them. Break out the popcorn, and get busy! Obama is like a cornered rat, like an opponent in a chess game who has no more moves to make to benefit his position and every move he makes to survive the game only worsens his standing in the game.

Cornered. Desperate Dispirited. THIS is the environment the liberals live in now and it is up to us conservatives to exploit their continuing disarray and attach the failure that is ObamaCare to every last one of them.

During the 2012 election cycle what I said the (R)'s had to do was build on the fact that as a matter of broken promises, the meme that had to stick to Obama was that single word, "betrayal".

(D)'s -- his allies -- are also among those losing their health insurance and yet he told them they'd be taken care of. Instead, they now feel "betrayed." Bingo -- that meme will stick now. Let's drive it home. Once his "loyal" contingent feels "betrayed" all will be lost for him in short order.

His people are now starting to flee the sinking ship, and Clinton is the Brutus in Caesar's crowd. The Clinton/Obama liberals are in their death spiral. Show them no mercy as they impale each other.

Let's play this game to the end and let's play it to win it!

FReegards!

[Go Gordon]

So why would anyone expect Cruz and Lee get anything positive out of being correct and the Dims being wrong?

Remember the 2006 second term, mid-term elections with Bush in the Whitehouse and Republicans controlling the House and Senate? All democrats running for office ran against President Bush. All individual races were against tehir Bush-supporting opponent. Heck, even the 2008 elections were against Bush.

Fast-forward to the 2014 second term, mid-term elections. All the Republicans have to do is tie their opponent to Obama. They even have the added benefit of all the video clips of the Democrats touting the benefits of Obamacare from 2009 through September 2013.

Bottom line: If the Republicans don't add massive seats in the House and take control of the Senate in 2014, the country will not survive much longer and we'll have to get used to saying President Clinton again, in 2017.

[JLS]

So, it does mean Cruz and Lee will get a bit of credit. That is what this thread is about.

[rcofdayton]

The Republicans should either: 1. Do nothing or 2. Repeal Obamacare. They should NOT attempt to “fix” it, indeed they should oppose any fixes. The American people were stupid enough to elect this clown and they should have to suffer the consequences for a while. They need to learn through pain how evil socialism is.

[Intolerant in NJ]

But we dare suggest one thing: that Republican pundits come out from hiding underneath their covers, change their bed sheets, and not play Chicken Little again. It’s unbecoming. And it’s stupid...yeah, Krauthammer and O'Reilly....

[Praxeologue]

No the shutdown was a stupid idea and Cruz and Lee deserve the blame. The public hates shutdowns.

The shutdown helped drive home the message against Obamacare, over the heads of the media. As such, it was very helpful.

At the time, the shutdown was a negative, but in retrospect it is a positive. Wait a few days if you rely on polling.

[trebb]

No the shutdown was a stupid idea and Cruz and Lee deserve the blame. The public hates shutdowns. With the media blaming the Republicans there’s no chance they will work. Already Lee is backpedaling. He gave a excellent policy speech that did not include anything about future shutdowns. The Republican Utah Mormans are pissed. His approval ratings are down 10 points and the business community may very well primary him out of office.

I guess it helps if you paid enough attention to know that it was Reid and company that shutdown the government - all to protect ObamaCare and insulate Obama from responsibility. Cruz and Lee stood firm for the People and against an abomination.

[SoConPubbie]

Ted Cruz Ping!

If you want on/off this ping list, please let me know.

Please beware, this is a high-volume ping list!

[COBOL2Java]

"That little bastard Cruz is makin' us look bad, John!"

"Don't worry! My wife's gotta lotta money! She'll throw in some bucks, Reince promised me bucks, the NRSC promised me bucks, and Mr. Soros promised lotsa bucks. Cruz is toast, I tell ya!"

[alstewartfan]

The shutdown did not succeed b/c of pukes like McCain and Corker firing shots are Cruz’ back. In hindsight, people will take a second look at Sen. Cruz, b/c he was RIGHT about everything he said, and the people are suffering. Bob

[Blackirish]

The shutdown didn’t succeed because it had no chance of success. Valerie Jarrett and Obama with their minions in the press set up Cruz, Lee and Palin for a 1-2 combo your out. Any idiot could ser that coming.

[ConservativeDude]

if Ted Cruz hadn’t shut down the government and exploded the economy, all the children of the world would have free health care via the website....

[alstewartfan]

So you are saying that Cruz should NOT have TRIED to stop millions of Americans from having their health coverage destroyed. You can’t put the genie back in the bottle once he is out! You have been gulled by the left into believing what you do. Sorry for the typo in the previous post. BOb