If the dems REALLY want to make budget cuts in lieu of shutting the government down, then they must be forced to do so.
Otherwise SHUT IT DOWN AND DO SO WITH PRIDE against these HYPOCRITES AND LIARS!
The one great advantage that he enjoys is that he can send up a continuing resolution conditioned upon the defunding of an iconic Democrat program which is generally unpopular. If the Republicans can shape the debate so that it appears that the Democrats shut down government only in order to save an abortion profiteer, we can win the debate.
Force the Democrats to choose. If they accept the defunding we will have another opportunity because it should be attached to a continuing resolution of limited time, perhaps 60 days or less. The next continuing resolution should be attached to the defunding of another program, such as cap and trade. But I think the continuing resolution has to be conditioned on only one defunding at a time so as to avoid aligning too many forces against the conditional shut down.
If the rats in the Senate or even the president by veto shuts down the government, we will have a united party standing on a popular issue which the bulk of the country might well accept even in the face of the inevitable media blitz.