Who could have predicted that shutting down the country would be an unpopular move? Well, pretty much everyone, including Teaparty Republicans who publicly maintain it was a gallant and possibly brilliant move, otherwise they would not have spent so much time trying to saddle their critics with the blame. A new poll shows that that strategy isn’t working out very well:
TPM — The latest ABC News/Washington Post poll found 74 percent of Americans disapproving of how congressional Republicans are handling the budget negotiations, up from 63 percent two weeks ago. Fifty-four percent said they “strongly” disapprove of the Republicans while 20 percent said they “somewhat” disapprove. Only 21 percent said they approve of the way Republicans have handled the talks. [.pdf results]
Unfortunately none of this matters much. It is at least a year too early.
See what Nate Silver says, he has good reasons for thinking that.
Cruz will win re-election in a landslide
shripathikamath has the truth of it. The reason they (both the Tea Party and the mainstream Republicans) pulled this stunt right now has as much or more to do with the safety of their seats as it does with the ACA (if the ACA wasn’t due this year, they would have found something else as their excuse).
And, they are right…despite all of the anger the people feel know, it will be forgotten in a month, much less in a year. Oh, there may be a few commercials the point out the Republican stunt pulled the year prior, but the masses will focus on the issue of the hour (BS or real) that candidates will toss out at each other.
I agree if it stops here they greatly minimize the damage to themselves and everyone else. Hopefully that’s what will happen today/tomorrow.
But if there is only a temporary solution now that carries the US through December or so, they’ll be right back at it again. This will only blow over if the republican far right (‘coincidentally’ that is about 20%) are so badly defeated that they can’t revive the blackmail in a couple of months. The real answers are to get rid of the debt ceiling altogether and for congress to do its job and pass a budget on time every time like they’re supposed to. I’d like to hear more from the ‘liberal’ media BTW, on how this whole thing was planned long ago by the TP & Koch Bros.
Terrifying thought for today:
If Ted Cruz goes to his loyal 21% and tells them “We fought to the bitter end but we must recognise defeat and bow to the inevitable”, will they listen or will they just write him off as a RINO and find someone even more extreme to lead them in their death march? 21% is awfully close to the threshold of the crazification factor, after all, meaning that there’s a very real possibility that the Tea Party will not be able to recognise what defeat looks like and their leadership may not be able to put the genie back into the bottle.
How, in a democracy, can you deal with people who are so far gone that they can’t even surrender?
I see one possible way this can hurt the Republicans. Risky, but I cannot see any other way: refuse to compromise, and let the angry Republicans lead us to default. Then, Obama is in charge. He should first pay the bond holders, including interest. That clears the 14th Amendment. Then he can choose which of social security, Medicare, etc. he pays and how much. That is not debt under the 14th amendment.
Do it selectively to hurt the Republican supporters the most. Yes, it is cruel, but not unconstitutional. Congress will be begging to regain that debt ceiling authority.
Anything else, and it looks like a compro… er, cave in is in the works, will actually hurt the Democrats in 2014.
The above may hurt them as well, but I suspect not as much as it’ll hurt the Republicans. This hostage taking has to be ended right now. Not postponed such that we revisit it in January, July and so on. One bad bit of news will change the dynamic totally then.
Yes, seeing half of my 401K disappear (for about three years) is the only way I can see ending this hostage taking.
If this does happen, say, July 2014, and they pull the same asinine stunt, will that be enough to hurt them, I wonder….
How, in a democracy, can you deal with people who are so far gone that they can’t even surrender?
my Repub parents used to tell me that’s why we had to Drop The Big One Now, Twice……