Because the vast majority of voters in this country have no idea what's going on and when the propagandists begin saying how terrible the shutdown is and that it's the Pubs fault in their nightly news programs the public will believe them.
I doubt we will get obamacare defunded, but I do believe we will get a delay. If we can expand our majority in the House and win back the Senate with Tea Party Pubs then we can defund it, or continue the delay until we get a Pub POTUS.
I think what was really smart was the Pubs now have a 200 pg bill that responds to the question "if you repeal it what will you put in it's place".
We’re not going to win back the Senate in 2014 by defunding or delaying parts of ObamaCare. All that will do is allow the Dems and the media to blame Republican for the FUBAR that ObamaCare has already created — “If not for Republican obstructionism....”
If you want people to go the the polls in the 2014 mid-terms fully informed about the total catastrophe that is ObamaCare, then the Republicans should just stand aside and very publicly say, “You wanted it, you got it. We won’t block a thing. Full speed ahead. Enjoy your ObamaCare, and vote accordingly in 2014.”