Posted on 09/01/2015 6:35:26 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
We do have the numbers to force a shutdown, but McConnell’s already ruled that out. I’m going to look on the bright side here: At least this guy’s trying to spare us another dismal episode of GOP failure theater. If we had a majority in the Senate that was prepared to dig in and have this fight on principle, no matter what the polls say, it’d be worth considering a shutdown. Obama might blink if it lasted long enough. Because we have the majority we have, there’s really no point. It’ll play out just as lefty Bill Scher says — after a few days of shuttered government, not only will Boehner and McConnell offer a clean continuing resolution in the name of ending the standoff but Democrats will increase their demands as a condition of voting for it, perhaps insisting that the GOP end sequestration as their price. We won’t gain anything and we might very well lose something.
Here’s your general telling you he doesn’t believe we can win this war. Even if you disagree, do you still welcome that war knowing that he’s in charge of it?
“We just don’t have the votes to get the outcome that we’d like,” McConnell said. “I would remind all of your viewers: The way you make a law in this country, the Congress has to pass it and the president has to sign it. The president has made it very clear he’s not going to sign any bill that includes defunding of Planned Parenthood, so that’s another issue that awaits a new president hopefully with a different point of view about Planned Parenthood.”
And McConnell said that in order to really make the changes he envisions on regulations, Republicans need a nominee at the top of the ticket who can win purple states — rattling off a list of places where he also needs Republicans to win Senate contests to continue as majority leader in 2017.
“Whoever our nominee is is going to have to appeal in places like Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Florida, Colorado, Nevada — those states that tend to go back and forth,” McConnell said. “Looking at the polling data in those key states, I think people are ready to go in a different direction. We just have to nominate somebody that they find appealing.”
There’s not going to be a shutdown. But … could there, and should there, at least be a sustained game of “chicken” over a shutdown in the weeks before government funding runs out? It’d be hard to win that game now that McConnell’s running around telling the media that the GOP will swerve at the last second if need be, but there are political advantages to a little “chicken” now, writes Ben Domenech. Ted Cruz would benefit, of course, either by showing his clout to the base if he can pressure McConnell into a shutdown or crowing to the base that we need a real conservative as president to balance the RINOs in Congress if he can’t. Trump would benefit for the same reasons, and unlike Cruz, he could play pragmatist if a shutdown happened by calling for it to end after a few days. Pro-lifers would benefit from shutdown “chicken” too, claims Domenech, because it would force the media to do something it really doesn’t want to do:
The media loves to engage in shutdown watches – they think it reveals Republican anti-government nihilism at its worst, and they are typically gleeful about the possibilities of such fights. Except oddly enough, they aren’t talking much about this atom bomb that everyone sees tick tick ticking away on September 30th.
Why is that? Isn’t it obvious? For the media to play up this shutdown fight, as is their nature, they first have to explain what the controversy is all about. And that is the last thing they want to do. An explanation means giving pro-lifers a huge platform to message on Planned Parenthood. “Republicans consider shutting down government for some reason we have no idea why, maybe see paragraph 12 for a possible explanation” is the tone that most coverage of this issue has had thus far. In an actual shutdown scenario, that would have to change. Heaven forbid that Pope Francis mention it in a sentence that also talks about gays.
He’s more optimistic than I am. True, the media couldn’t avoid mentioning Planned Parenthood in writing about “shutdown chicken,” but they could sanitize the videos with appropriate jargon — “fetal tissue research,” “extraction,” etc etc. The left has a highly developed sense of euphemism when it comes to abortion; cutting open a baby’s face to slice out its brain while its heart is still beating would become “removing brain tissue for medical research.” If for no other reason, I welcome “shutdown chicken” as a test of whether I’m right about that or whether I’m being too cynical. I’d also like to settle the intramural debate on the right over Planned Parenthood’s relatively high favorable rating across a number of polls. Some conservatives think that’s mainly a function of poor media coverage. Force the public to confront what PP’s really doing in its chop shop, they say, and those numbers will shift inevitably. I, the eternal eeyore, think those people are mostly kidding themselves. The numbers will shift a bit — even on abortion, there are bound to be fencesitters whose consciences can be shocked — but I suspect most on both sides already have a sense of what goes on behind clinic walls and they’ve made peace with their position about it. Here’s what Quinnipiac found the other day, in fact:
Their favorable rating is net positive; the idea of cutting off taxpayer funds is net negative. When you ask people if they’d support or oppose shutting down the government “over differences about federal government funding to Planned Parenthood,” the bottom drops out: Just 22 percent say yes versus 69 percent who say no. Among Republicans, the split is 37/53, and don’t think McConnell isn’t making sure that his caucus knows that. Refine the question further to ask which party will be blamed for a shutdown and, of course, the GOP gets the lion’s share, 41 percent versus 33 percent. But then, this is why Domenech is imagining “shutdown chicken,” not an actual shutdown. Posing a credible threat of a shutdown, even if that threat is secretly empty, could at least provide a public service by giving voters a crash course on what Planned Parenthood really does. Too bad McConnell’s already broadcast the emptiness of the threat to everyone, huh? See now why Trump’s boasting about what a hard-ass negotiator he is plays so well among Republicans?
RE: I loathe McConnell more than I loathe Obama.
So, what should the Senate do in this case?
There are only two choices:
1) Vote on it and have it vetoed
2) Fight and tough it out when the government shut down.
Which one do you prefer? I take #2.
Mitch McConnell: The Can’t Do Senate Leader!
The perfect companion to: Jeb Bush, The Can’t Do President!
McConnell’s job is to get the votes using whatever legal and ethical means he has at his disposal.
Or the guts .....
This is why the establishment Republicans are so hated.
McConnell is all about why everything proposed cannot be done. He is the senator “No-Can-Do.”
This is why Trump is so popular because Trump is the candidate of “Can-do.” Nothing is impossible with Trump.
McConnell relishes screwing people over and lining his pockets. Defunding Obamacare would have been as easy as supporting Senator Cruz’ filibuster. Had they done so Obamacare would not be law, but of course McConnell said “no-can-do.”
Then when the Republicans got the senate they promised to fight executive amnesty. When McConnell was sworn in as majority leader he said “no-can-do” to fighting executive amnesty.
Every thing about the establishment Republicans is no-can-do.
And then they have no idea why Trump is so popular who is all about we can do anything we want to do if we set our minds to it.
McConnell is ())*&*&^&&*(((. I simply cannot come up with the words to describe the kind of evil man he is!
RE: McConnell’s job is to get the votes using whatever legal and ethical means he has at his disposal.
Yep, At least I’d like to see him TRY instead of raising up his hands and then saying aloud — IT CAN’T BE DONE.
He’s been saying the same thing over and over again on every issue.
Might as well not have a Republican Congress if this is the case.
Failure Theater seems to be a hit with the GOPe since it is their longest running show on East Capitol St.
He’s right, he has zero balls. He doesn’t have the numbers.
Literally
Mitch the Bitch
Get off your boring rear-end Mitch and get on the phone. Use your authority and power to get the votes you need. I realize it’s a lot tougher than just capitulating, but, hey, give it a shot.
Welcome to FreeRepublic Mr. Gardiner!
Force a vote and hold those supporters of PP accountable at the polls.
It is that easy.
McConnell to conservatives: Look, I don't have the number of testicles required to prove I'm a man.
Yes, we warned that “Lesser of evils’ crowd about the consequences of electing McConnell and foretold the absolute betrayal of Conservatism via serving Obama his entire transformational agenda on a silver platter.
We were told we were worse than Democrats for even THINKING about voting for anyone except McConnell.
The GOP is far more evil, treasonous and damaging to the country than the Marxist cabal now running away with a dictatorship this same GOP handed them with a smile.
You have amazing power. To not use it for good is an abommination.
“Look, we don’t have the numbers to defend Little Round Top!”
“Look, we don’t have the numbers to take Point du Hoc!”
“Look, we don’t have the numbers to take the Hessians at Trenton!”
“Look, we don’t have the numbers to take Mt. Suribachi!”
Mitch, you are a disgrace to the American spirit.
You know, Mitch, Harry Reid would find a way.
Now lead, or resign the Majority Chair.
We have had enough of your fecklesssness!
Amen Brother !!!!
Any folks wonder why Trump is kicking ass. We’re desperate for a fighter.
Mitch McConnell is just evil.
For those interested in poll weighting ponder this.
When asked who should control Congress D’s win 46-44.
R’s want R’s by 89-6% and D’s want D’s by 86-6%. Independents want R’s by 46-39%.
So how does Quinnipiac deliver an electorate that wants D’s to control the House with indies giving R’s a 7 point advantage in a world where R’s control the House by significant margins?
You figure that out.
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