Posted on 10/01/2013 3:54:53 AM PDT by Kaslin
Why is it just assumed Republicans will automatically be blamed for any government shutdown over a budgetary impasse between Obama and his Democratic Party and Republicans?
More disturbingly, why do so many Republicans and right-leaning commentators surrender before we've even begun to fight?
Do our moderates believe there is any position President Obama and the Democrats could take that would result in the public's blaming Democrats, rather than Republicans, for a shutdown?
The moderates always cite polls that say Republicans will be blamed, but who decreed that polls are set in stone? Which Republicans, when they were campaigning for election, promised to govern according to the polls and not their principles?
But if we must discuss the polls, let me ask you to consider what would happen if the pollsters framed their questions as follows:
"Will you support efforts by congressional Republicans to defund Obamacare, even to the point of a government shutdown, because they believe it is the greatest destroyer of jobs today in America, it will reduce access to and the quality of health care, it will not ensure coverage or care for everyone, it will not allow people to keep their own doctors or their own plans, it will cost the government at least twice what Obama promised, it will not reduce the health care expenses of a typical family of four by $2,500 as Obama promised but increase them by some $7,400, it is such a legislative mess and so burdensome that many have demanded to be exempted from its various provisions and President Obama, in disregard of his own health care law and of the Constitution's separation of powers doctrine, granted, by executive fiat, special exemptions and delays to some and not others, and that the Internal Revenue Service, which has been caught red-handed abusing its power against the administration's political opponents, will be in charge of enforcing Obamacare?
"And, dear voter, wouldn't you agree that it's a bit unfair to conclude that Republicans are mainly at fault for shutting the government down when the Democratic Senate has continually ignored its legal duty to pass budgets, Senate Democrats have flat-out announced they won't negotiate and have leaked their secret desire that the government shuts down so they can demonize the Republicans, and Republicans have, in fact, passed several budgets, which only exclude the funding or delay the implementation of Obamacare, a law that is very unpopular with the American people?"
Of course, we'll never see poll questions so patently loaded, especially in favor of the Republican position. And we shouldn't. But we do see slanted poll questions all the time, subtly nudging the participants toward a desired response. I'm sure that's the case here.
But we shouldn't be defeated by poll questions based on a snapshot in time and based on fixed assumptions that don't allow for any change in public opinion based on future events and communications. Unless he is clairvoyant, no pollster can factor into his questions the precise unfolding of events leading to and after a shutdown, and the possibilities of how they're communicated are endless.
Polls can't possibly predict to any degree of reliability how the public would respond to a shutdown if Republicans finally united and articulated a compelling case to the public before and during a shutdown, including the points contained in my absurd hypothetical poll questions.
What if Republicans got together, instead of shooting one another in the backs, and made those points and also hammered Obama for refusing to come to the table on real spending and entitlement cuts?
Objectively speaking, Obama's position all along has been indefensible. Almost nothing he's said about Obamacare is true -- and this can be easily demonstrated. He will not do anything about our short- and long-term spending problems, and he and his party are the ones who are absolutely refusing to negotiate in good faith, if at all, on these budgetary issues.
Though I respect my more moderate friends on the right and don't wholly discount their position, I believe that their default defeatism and their friendly fire against principled conservatives such as Ted Cruz are damaging the GOP's chances of convincing the public of the unreasonableness of Obama's position and the reasonableness of their own.
I believe that if Republicans would finally draw a firm line in the sand and then go to the media with a united, 24/7 communications effort, they would -- with their courage, their principled stand and their contagious patriotism -- reignite the grass roots and inspire many others to recapture an optimistic spirit, a spirit that says that America is not yet dead and that there are still elected officeholders who are willing to stake their careers on saving this nation.
We've been following the moderates' advice, and where has it gotten us? Where has it gotten the nation?
Agreed!
Send single issue CRs to the Senate covering specific departments and duties.
Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.
Let “Harry Reid’s Government Shutdown” last until next election. The Bolsheviks are screaming already that we shut off their money spigot. Keep it shut. Let te learn to do with less like the rest of us.
There is no GOP...Only puny nobodies, and Marxist lite snobs. It is too late for the Grand Old Party, and America in general. Fifty percent of the population is brain-dead. America as I knew it will not recover in my short lifetime.
Simple: Liberals control everything, especially the media and discussion.
GOP, You’ve Tried Surrender; Let’s Try Fighting
One thing I don’t understand is this.
3 1/2 yrs ago, the Democrats rammed this thing through at the stroke of midnight before Scott Brown could take Teddy’s seat in Mass.
The fact is his one vote would have killed this thing.
Not one single Republican backed this thing 3 1/2 yrs ago and even today after the 2010 backlash the Democrats still refuse to compromise or negotiate.
The Republicans need to get this out there.
America needs to be told the true historical history of the ACA.
Because the kneepad media will insist on it, and only a small minority of voters will have followed the entire saga and know what really happened.
The longer this is shut down the more it will favor the House GOP. People will begin to realize that there are a lot of useless things that government funds.
I agree with your sentiment in principle. However, I am an essential personnel, and government shutdown means I may not be able to go on vacation next week as I have been planning for several months. I hope I will be able to get refunds for the resort and plane tickets.
Speaking of being essential personnel, I should probably get off FR and go get ready for an essential day at work. It will be quiet today...
Moderate republicans are also called communists.
Sometimes even the best of us readers need a little sark tag.
4 later
I was screaming at my TV this morning as I got ready for work while they bellyached about how local civilian military contractors would be furloughed and how national parks would be closed and how if this shutdown lasts for more than 30 days then SS checks might be delayed for...two weeks!
So working Americans, those of us with employer-funded health insurance, those of us paying taxes who live above this BS magic line the government arbitrarily sets, we have to budget our households every month to keep the bills paid, food on the table, fuel in the cars to get us to and from our jobs while federal employees get a taxpayer-funded vacation courtesy of the retroactive pay they'll receive when the next CR is passed? Meanwhile, grams and gramps have to wait 2 additional weeks to receive a check, and in all likelihood, the ones who will bitch are those who have no business receiving SS checks in the first place.
And why is NO ONE addressing the fact that it's been over 3 years since the government actually created a BUDGET; a real, dyed-in-the-wool, genuine, every day budget is something that our government literally cannot cobble together and pass. It's absolutely disgusting what's happening in this nation right now.
I think this issue is a winner if the GOP wakes up. Everyone hates Obamacare and they can see that, ultimately, it’s the GOP that is trying to stop it.
The government shutdown is being laid right where it belongs — at Obama’s feet.
Of course, the stupid party might still find a way to screw it up. They’re experts at it.
National Review’s Byron York was on Fox last night doing his cheese-eating surrender monkey impression.
Yes this mess should be hung around the necks of Harry and Barry. It is them who are rejecting the continuing resolution.
Most people earned those checks & they damn well deserve to have them arrive on schedule.
A furloughed contractor might have to cut back on dining out, but many retirees will simply not eat without their SS check. An old person can starve in 2 weeks, while a furloughed bureaucrat will simply substitute rib-eye for prime rib.
SS recipients are the WRONG people to denigrate in this shutdown.
Bratty behavior works because it is intimidating. Screaming, lying, spewing hate, these are traditional devices of the D party. They are effective against quislings. They are not effective against Godly men and women who have a firm grasp of the truth.
My husband was navy then dod at STRATCOM. When he left Offutt he opened a military contracting office down the street from Offutt. Over 90% of the people he hires are x or retired military with clearances. Today one of his people will not have a job. All the others are already funded. Since it’s not a complete shutdown, military are still working, only those contractors whose projects haven’t been approved and funded will not have a job.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.