This was a complete victory.
And they got nothing.
Oh yes, you will say that the income verification part of the deal is something they got, except that is already part of the Affordable Care Act. Only a delusional know nothing teabagger could think that a person’s income would not be verified by the IRS to determine if their income was sufficiently below the legal threshold before they got subsidies. So in essence, what they got was an endorsement and an enforcement of Obamacare. LOL. Thanks GOP.
Here is Ezra Klein on what we Democrats got:
Democrats managed to get the budget conference they’ve been pursuing for six months. They got a CR of the length they wanted and ending before the next sequestration cuts rather than six-month CR that Sen. Susan Collins proposed. They got a debt-ceiling increase all the way into February. This is far beyond what Democrats thought possible on Sept. 30. […]
But the strategy Ted Cruz managed to force on the GOP was so suicidal that Democrats felt comfortable forcing Republicans to cave completely. They were so confident that they managed to reject a deal proposed by Sen. Susan Collins and supported by many Senate Democrats because it funded the government for longer than the Democratic leadership preferred. That’s a level of control over the outcome that Democrats never expected to have.
Going forward, not only will Republicans be afraid to shut down the government or threaten the debt ceiling again during this Congress, but if Republicans somehow end up doing it anyway, Democrats will be unafraid of the fight.
According to Josh Marshall, the credit goes to Obama’s months long strategy of saying, explicitly, that he was not going to deal on the debt ceiling, and then backing that stand up when all of Republican Washington thought he would fold like a cheap suit.
Many Republicans knew this was going to be a disaster going in. But just as many totally misread Obama. Just days before the shutdown numerous high profile Republicans insisted there was no way Obama wouldn’t negotiate. But probably the key driver of this drama has been President Obama’s refusal to negotiate over raising the debt ceiling. Yes, there’s been some back and forth here at the end, but as begging like this suggests, it’s mainly been to sort of out terms of surrender. But that refusal has defined the entire standoff.
So now the precedent has been set. The Obama Doctrine, as it were. There will never again be hostage taking of the debt ceiling or the funding of the government in order to force policy choices. You want to negotiate on the budget? Then you negotiate in conference, while keeping the government open and paying our bills. You want to repeal a law? Then you try, through the same proper process that the law was passed and enacted through, to repeal the law by having it pass both Houses of Congress and then garnering the Presidential signature. If you behave like a criminal, then you will be treated like one.
Well, we lost a ton of money over this nonsense and it gave the spotlight to extremists for two and a half weeks, which I’m sure Ted Cruz considers a victory, so I wouldn’t go as far to claim it a “complete victory”. But the good part of this is that maybe – JUST MAYBE – Americans will start to see that federal workers are people too. With families, with bills, with needs just like people who have private sector jobs. If you work for the government, IT’S A REAL JOB.
I was reading either Roll Call or the Hill last night (might have been linked through Delaware Liberal) – but it’s really kind of sad how Republican staffers whose bosses supported the Vitter amendment had to deal with it. Completely fucking ridiculous, and if I was on those staffs, I would have resigned immediately. This Obamacare exemption for members of Congress and their staff bullshit was just that – bullshit, and if it had passed, that amendment would have single-handedly kickstarted the biggest brain drain Capitol Hill has ever seen.
Also, this: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/327937-poll-obamacare-gains-popularity-amid-shutdown
38% approve of Obamacare. 24% approve of Republicans. I think it’s time to repeal the Republican Party.
For your reading pleasure:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/10/32-republicans-who-caused-the-government-shutdown/280236/
Conservative republicans represent about 20% of the population. How did we let them get so much power? When we answer that question and address the problem, the victory will be complete.
Can someone seriously explain to me what Cruz’s endgame is here? I keep hearing political commentators saying he could try to “ride this to Iowa” but he’s Canadian right? I know his mother is from here (weird coincidence) and his dad is from Cuba and he was born in Canada , so he’s out just like any fever dreams about Arnold Swartzenegger being the next Reagan a few years back right?
V, from what I gather, you may not actually have to have been born IN the US. McCain ran, and he was born in Panama. The Consty says “natural born” citizen which, because of his ‘Murkin Mom, “qualifies” (and i use that term as loosely as possible) him.
This is funny, because even if Obama hadn’t been able to get that fake Long Form, he is still a natural born citizen.
Just try not to let your head explode when the same people who said Obama should legally be deported, support Cruz’s claim with a straight face.
But Ben wasn’t McCain born on a military base (which are all technically American soil)? Does one American parent count? Anybody know? I’m not trying to go all birther here I’m just not sure if he’s wasting our time more than he already has.
His mother’s an American citizen so he’s a citizen.
Thanks Pandora. So we will likely be subjected to him in the primaries. Great.
No way he wins the general. He is a Goldwater on Speed. GOP will lose 45 states if they nominate him.
There are those (no one of important) that questioned the term “natural-born citizen” and whether it means born in the U.S. McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone, which was considered U.S. soil. Most foreign military bases are not diplomatically, U.S. territory unless the Status of Forces (SOF) agreement contains the appropriate language. But off spring of service members are designated citizens because they have at least one parent who is a citizen. It’s always been a interesting question because our beloved founders never bothered to define the term.
In Cruz’s case, he would be a U.S. citizen because of his mother. However, it is also true that Cruz is a Canadian citizen and has yet to formally renounce that citizenship. So referring to him as a Canadian citizen remains accurate until we see proof that he is not.
Part of me says, “MAKE IT BE TRUE!” But my calmer, more rational side of me knows that even if 10% of Americans think that this kind of extremist is fit for public office – that is too many.
The idea that Cruz can even aspire to be President is an indictment of our Democracy.
Also – if he is as smart as everyone says he is, he’ll look to Jim DeMint as a role model, and ride this to a seven figure wingnut welfare sinecure.
I would love for Cruz to run in the primaries.
1, it will further show what racist, hypocritical, stupid pieces of crap the Tbaggers are. 2, it will force the field to the right so John Hunstman (or whatever sane “Republican” runs) doesn’t have a chance at making things a fight for Hillary
3, it will elevate all the Todd Akins and Sharon Angles
4 It will make Rick Santorum appear so moderate by comparison, HE will get the nomination (it IS his turn, after all) and ….. back to number 3…. result in less than 35 GOP senators and a deep blue House. (think scalia is gonna last another 10 years?…. )
this is it. This is the end of the Goldwater/Reagan/Rove conservative choke-hold on this country. They, in their desperate attempt to stop progress unleashed a volatile force that will be their ruin. HA. HA.
He is a Goldwater on Speed.
This is an insult to Barry Goldwater.
I don’t foresee any future in which Rick Santorum gets nominated. If I had to guess now – barring a Tea Party split – Paul (or maybe Mike Lee?) and Christie are the frontrunners, but Christie’s not going to get nominated because he talked to President Obama once and Paul’s not going to get nominated because there is still a hawk constituency of the Republican Party. If I had to guess I’d say it would be a compromise candidate. Maybe Rubio. Santorum may have finished second last time, but that’s because the field had Newt fucking Gingrich as a legitimate contender. Romney was the only one who came into the race thinking he had a shot.
I think they’ll figure it out soon enough, that you can’t be openly racist and obstructionist and do absolute jackshit when you’re in office and expect to keep winning elections. 2012 should have been the wakeup call, but they kept the House so they think they’re doing God’s work. It’s going to take another unified Democratic government to drive it home how badly their party is fucked up.
One thing about Cruz – I’m 100% certain that while Mitch McConnell is the minority leader and Harry Reid is alive he will never get meaningful legislation passed in the Senate after this fiasco. Not that he’s interested in it, but he brought 144 Republicans with him in the House to vote no. One hundred and forty four Congressmen listened to Ted Cruz, a FIRST YEAR senator, over the Speaker of the House, not to mention the vast majority of the American public. That’s insurrection if I’ve ever seen it.
“As he left the podium Wednesday night, CNN’s Brianna Keilar shouted after Obama.
“Mr. President, isn’t this going to happen all over again in a few months?” Keiler asked.
The president stopped, turned to face a briefing room only half-filled with reporters at the late hour, and made sure his one-word response was heard loud and clear: “No.'”
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/barack-obama-government-shutdown-debt-ceiling-98440.html#ixzz2hzLHPw2O
Grover Norquist thinks that Cruz and his cronies need to apologize to the GOP. Which strikes me as permission for the rest of the GOP to not support whatever Cruz does legislatively.
Cruz doesn’t need anything passed. He is there to showboat and take down a big DC payday. The more I think about it, the more I’m sure that was his game-plan from the outset.
The real GOP prospects are Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Marco Rubio, & Rick Santorum.
The only one that makes me nervous is Christie. If the teabags gain a little clarity, he can play a convincing “principled moderate” in the general election. He would attract low information voters who are fond of saying, “I don’t know much about his politics, but I just like the guy.”
@anon: I wouldn’t count out Santorum yet. As you noted, each of the other options has done something in office recently that some Republicans don’t like. Rubio is done; he wasn’t ready for prime time in the first place, and his wallowing about since his rude awakening on immigration shows it.
Santorum has the advantage of being out of office, so he doesn’t have to take any positions that compromise him. He might not win, but if he runs he’ll be competitive. If he doesn’t win he’ll be a popular pick for VP.
I think the Repub House members will not want to lay their hands on the hot stove again in January, even closer to mid-terms. Also, I don’t see how Christie makes it through GOP primaries.
Well here’s one of the Slow Learner Caucus — Rep. John Fleming who says they’ll do it all again in January.
I don’t think it is all that useful to examine the prospects by characterizing them as progressive, moderate, conservative, fringe whacko (well, except for the fringe whackos). Each president must govern with the world as it is, not as he/she wishes it to be. I don’t think that is any more evident than looking at Obama.
Christie may be very conservative, yet he is almost assured of re-election in a blue state. You can chalk that up to the meme that people don’t like his politics but they like him. Still, while that may have some validity, it’s not the whole story of him. Being a conservative or progressive is not a scorecard or a pass/fail, in short it shouldn’t be a litmus test.
Obama didn’t strike me as much of hawk, but when faced with the dangers of today’s world, he has not shied away from using the military to meet what he considers to be legitimate threats. That doesn’t make him a hawk or a peacenik. Just a person who responds to situations, making judgments and doing that he thinks is the right thing to do. And that’s what I really want to see in the presidency, is someone who tries to do the right thing (except for the whackos – really, do I need to keep caveating that? Can’t we just agree that whatever I say from now on to forever does not apply to the whacks – Santorum, Cruz, Jeff Christopher, you know the people on the fringes of our solar system)
Except for the whack jobs, who are truly off-worlders, I suspect that’s what most of them try to do. Including someone like Christie. I think a bigger question is, would you rather have a stronger or weaker presidency. In my view, considering the Congress we have now and are likely to have for the foreseeable future, I would prefer a strong presidency because Congress has demonstrated little to no interest in governing.
I have always been concerned about the balance of power and having the opposite parties control the White House and Congress. In light of the demise (or derangement) of the GOP, I’ll have to rethink that philosophy.
Slow Learner Caucus. Good one.
If they do this again in January they might have to enter the witness protection program.
If they do this again in January, we may be looking at a 100 seat Democratic gain in November.
I think they will be doing this again. Go on and name one of these Tea Partiers/Conservatives in the House who has seen the error of their ways.
And who’s going to stop them? Go look at that house vote total from last night and get back to me.
I’m with Pandora. The Tea Party / Republican Party is more of a religion than a political movement. Its adherents are not moved by the things that typically move politicians and political organizations.
This isn’t over by a long shot.
It is a religion. I was watching Dogma (for the 100th time!) and Chris Rock’s character points out the problems with beliefs, mainly that you can’t change them. He says ideas can change and evolve, but beliefs don’t budge.
So yeah, I’m not seeing the Tea Party budging.
Pandora’s right, it is a religion. They were completely stunned on election night when Romney lost. Their polls were based on beliefs, not facts. They are dangerously deranged.