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I have just listened to the most infuriating 40 min. on Laura Ingraham starting with her introductory monologue and extending through an interview with Byron York. York has long been writing articles to the effect that the conservative initiative to defund Obamacare is wrongheaded and in any case cannot succeed.

Those who oppose the initiative always revert to the idea that the Republicans do not have control of the Senate or of the White House, both of which, they say, are necessary to repeal Obamacare. That is to misconceive the power structure.

By defunding Obamacare in the House, conservatives have seized the initiative. The Democrats cannot regain the initiative even though they control the Senate and the White House, they can only fight for some sort of parity. In other words, heretofore the Democrats have been having their way without paying a political price. Now they must pay.

The danger for the Republicans is not that they will not succeed in forcing the Senate and the White House to repeal Obamacare, it is that the Senate will strip the defunding provisions of the continuing resolution and send it back to the house. At that point the Democrats will not have regained the initiative-contrary to the assumptions tacit and otherwise of the Rinos-they will have at best placed themselves in the debate on equal terms with Republicans. But for the first time Republicans will have some sort of parity.

Just because the Republicans have now gained ground which they can defend and even use as a launching pad for attack, does not mean they will win, it means they have to fight to win. It is always been known by conservatives, Rinos and Democrats alike that if and when it comes to a shutdown it will be a fight for public opinion. At this point the Republicans will be able to say:

The Republicans want to keep the government open and shut down Obamacare.

The Democrats want to shut down the government to keep Obamacare open.

That is a political battle we can win. But we cannot win it if sellouts like Laura Ingraham and Byron York oh so piously cluck their tongues and pronounce the effort to defund stillborn.

This is an "undoubtedly risky" strategy, says Fox News...[Snip]

There is no RISK in doing what is right, the consequences of not acting are far worse than pissing off a bunch of RINO Republican elitists who covet their own power more than they do for the wishes of their constituents.

The 'risk' of doing what is right is pissing off Democrats and GOPe? Give me a frigging break! Who cares what they think; they are our enemies. To proclaim so and keep repeating is defeatism and acknowledgement that you're part of the problem. So on this, Fox News, I give you a big "f@ck you."

An excellent read by Andy McCarthy http://pjmedia.com/andrewmccarthy/2013/09/19/defund-obamacare/?singlepage=true

Exceprt...

The objections to the defunding strategy are as unconvincing as they are feckless. Naysayers argue that President Obama will never sign a bill to fund government operations that slashes his signature achievement. Thus, the argument goes, defunding can only result in a government shutdown for which, thanks to Obama’s slavish media, Republicans will be blamed. Also trotted out, of course, is the bromide the GOP establishment chants to rationalize its supine posture whenever opportunities arise to oppose Obama’s hard Left agenda: “We only control one-half of one-third of the government, so we cannot dictate policy.”

Resistance is futile, in other words, so why resist at all? It’s an ironic argument since it seems Republican leadership only resists when doing so is futile, when the resistance is token. Thus the prior votes to repeal Obamacare, all forty of them, taken in the comfortable knowledge that they had no chance of succeeding – just going through the motions in faux fulfillment of a commitment to the base to work tirelessly to undo the law. But when something might not be futile – when it could actually work, and therefore entails hard work and risk – we generally find leadership in folderoo mode, babbling its one-half-of-one-third mantra.