This is the Strategy. Now Do It

REDSTATE ^ | 10/9/2013 | Erick Erickson

[HenryArmitage]

ah. I think I see where you are coming from now. We assume that if the debt limit isn’t raised and there is no catastrophe that we need to take the reigns of what to spend on and what not to spend on out of the president’s hands and provide clear steps... In that case I’m completely on board with you!

[wastoute]

You are a smart guy. Way to smart for this. All these strategies to “win harts and minds” will come to nothing. Bottom line. We will NEVER allow our rights as individuals to be subordinated to “the collective” no matter what subterfuge used. Call it BozoCare or whatever or strategies or tactics to deal with the fact or fiction that we are outnumbered by 2% or whatever. This is the fight. Make it CLEAR. We will not quit. We will not submit. We will not bend a knee to any man.

[donmeaker]

There is the point that without an increase in the debt ceiling evern more federal workers would be fired.

And then, as the debts increase, them more federal workers would be fired.

But the current bums would be sure to hurt honorable veterans first, and old people dependent on SS after that, so long as the democrat activists with federal pay got their money, and the union thugs got their cut.

[Lazamataz]

I like your idea.

[DB]

Default has a specific meaning.

You are using it incorrectly.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3075707/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3076855/posts

[riri]

So, aren't we just buying a short amount of time? What really changes in a short window of <13 months? I am not against buying time as I am not really looking forward to what may be coming. I just do not think there are enough serious people who understand, care or are not in the gov't wagon to make a difference. It seems the more we hobble on, the more that become impoverished and are in that wagon.

[Yosemitest]

Call you Representative and tell them to vote BoneHead out of Speakership,
and refuse to donate any money until BoneHead is removed!

[Yosemitest]

The Debt Limit should NOT be extended or raised at all.
As a matter of fact, it should be reduced by 10 percent.
Bring the fires of HELL against the Establishment Republicans and the ILLEGAL ALIEN IN CHIEF.

[nathanbedford]

My thoughts on a short-term extension are that, first, we have to be careful or we will lose our coherence and the front will break down. Second, as long as we keep these matters bubbling we are winning. The Spotlight is on Obamacare and its horrors including the sign-up fiasco. The shutdown has been so ineptly handled by Obama, witness the cut off of payments to widows and orphans, that he daily loses ground, witness his 47% approval rating.

So we want to keep the matter cooking.

Reverting to the first issue, it looks like Paul Ryan and his boys are trying to switch the matter to the general budget. This is attractive to them because it gets us past Obamacare which they regard to be a battle we cannot win. I regard it as a battle we win as long as we fight it. Nevertheless, they want an exit strategy and their strategy is to move over to the budget.

By granting a short-term debt extension, I hope we can keep the matter open, keep our side together, keep Obamacare alive, but not lose all leverage over the administration.

Given my druthers, which we rarely are given, I would go to the wall with Yosemitest and say damn your eyes all of you and make them live within the current debt limit. But that ain't gonna happen.

[Yosemitest]

You never know until after you fight the battle with all you've got.
Sometimes the seemingly impossible ... IS POSSIBLE.

[nathanbedford]

I agree wholeheartedly which is why I supported Ted Cruz from the very beginning even though from the very beginning the path to victory was not clear. But Ted Cruz has behaved so brilliantly and Barak Obama has behaved so ineptly that there is no reason to quit the fight over Obamacare now.

I have always thought that as long as we fight we are winning. That is because we have reason and logic on our side and the Democrats are essentially lying to the people. Every day the anomalies of their position become exposed. That is why Obama looks so inept. If we can keep the battle going we win the public relations fight everyday. Ultimately, that is what will decide Obamacare and the budget.

I want to keep the fight going and I want to deflect Paul Ryan and the establishment Republicans from switching over to some sort of half-assed compromise on the budget as a substitute. We have seen this game played before to our sorrow.

We would not be in this position if Ted Cruz and Mike Lee had not shamed the Republican establishment into it. At the time there was, as Doctor Krauthammer says, no clear path to repealing or defunding Obamacare. But the fight itself has created opportunities. Whatever leverage we now have on the budget comes from the fight over Obamacare.

[Yosemitest]

Well said.
Beware RINOs and Establishment Republicans.
You have failed us SEVERAL times too many.
Your time in offices is limited and we're out to replace you.

[nathanbedford]

In the week since our last exchange the transcendent fiasco of the Obamacare sign-on has become evident to America thus vindicating the Republicans-or better said, the conservatives-opposition to Obamacare. The argument that the effort to defund has only diverted the spotlight from the failings of Obamacare as they emerge is contrary to common sense. This is the focus of national attention now.

More, the appalling anecdotal evidence is mounting on a huge scale in the media of skyrocketing premiums, skyrocketing-almost surrealistic- self-pay provisions, and loss of coverage previously held. These media reports must be replicated a million times in the social media a million times more around the water cooler. All of this too must vindicate opposition to Obamacare.

The idea that the public is disproportionately punishing the Republican brand for the situation and for their opposition to it is contrary to our common assumptions and expectations, not as conservatives but as citizens. For the public to get this so wrong means that democracy is hopeless.

I understand the media bashes the Republicans daily but their bashing comes down to this, the Republicans are mindlessly fighting a law which is oppressing you and which is unfairly applied against you, a fight which they cannot win not because it is inherently wrong but only because Obama is arrogant and stubbornly defends his signature legacy. Therefore, you should blame the Republicans for government shutdown and bad weather.

I simply do not buy it nor the polls which seem to say it.

I agree with you 100%, there should be an open season on Rinos this primary season.