What Are Republicans Doing?

First the government shutdown and now this? Boehner's willing to put the debt ceiling on the line just to deal with Obamacare? Oy vey, this is getting crazy. I thought Republicans were crazy two years ago. Now, I'm beginning to wonder of they're down right insane. This is not a game. They're playing with the economic health and vitality of the United States of America here.

Republicans played this game two years ago during the whole debt ceiling debate. They're pretending that defaulting on our loans won't be too bad. Um, didn't they see what happened when Greece went through a similar crisis? I can't believe how crazy they're getting when it comes to our debt.

The Republicans keep on talking aboutr how they want to reduce the deficit and Obama's the worst thing to happen to it. Here's the thing: I KNOW we have a huge deficit, but it's because the last guy caused it!

When George W. Bush came into office, the US had a $280 billion dollar surplus. Eight years of George W. Bush being George W. Bush gave us the deficit we had today. And while Democrats like President Obama did vote against raising the debt ceiling from time to time, they weren't so stupid as to make a big show out of it just because of one law they didn't like. Yes, that's what all this is about, this is about Obamacare! The Republicans don't want to give Obama a legacy, so they're throwing a fit to get rid of it and this tantrum is economically disastrous.

But getting back to the debt ceiling, you know their antics are getting old when the Chamber of Commerce is telling them to knock it off. That's right, the US Chamber of Commerce, the epitome of evil (sorry, humorous hyperbole) told the GOP to knock it off! If you're thinking about the needs of business and the largest business lobbying group tells you to stop, it's probably a good idea.

Honestly, this whole government shutdown thing was doomed to fail for the Republicans. A PPP poll has already shown that voters are thinking about punishing the Republicans for their behavior. But, given that many of these Republicans come from "safe" districts, don't get your hopes up. And if you can, call your congressman and get them to do something about this, because we're playing with the economic health of our country for crying out loud!

Government Shutdown: Can I Complain?

Trust Congress to screw things up monumentally. Oh, don't worry House Republicans, I'll get to you, but right now, there's enough blame to go around. Actually, you know, what? Forget it, this is all the Republican Party's fault, and for a very good reason. Sure, Senate Democrats should have done a better job negotiating, but when there's only one other option that the Republicans have offered, there's little wonder.

All this is because the Republicans wanted to defund/repeal the Affordable Care Act. They've tried to repeal the act more times than Presidents! And, they couldn't control themselves. Case in point, Republican leadership was reportedly unhappy with Ted Cruz making his nearly day-long publicity stunt about Obamacare.

And speaking of Republican leadership, the Washington Post notes that House Speaker John Boehner isn't even in control of his own caucus (this observation has been made by many an observer, so it's hardly new). Boehner originally wanted to fund the government, but the crazies (Teabaggers) in his caucus made him go along with Ted Cruz's defund Obamacare idea.

Republicans have been complaining about the Government for years ever since Obama took office. They didn't like the idea of a Democrat being in charge, so they started throwing temper tantrums to get what they wanted. It didn't quite work out for much of that period, except when they took control at the state level and well, let's just say the result is pretty hard to decide if it's popular or not.

The last time this happened in 1995, it lasted 28 days. The last government shutdown was because of a budget dispute between Newt Gringrich's Republican party and President Bill Clinton. Given how President Obama is universally hated among anyone right of Neil Peart, I don't feel confident this one is going to end any time soon. Sorry everyone who wanted to visit Yosemite (and bad timing, Google!)!

If you want someone to blame, blame House Republicans. Their stubbornness was too much and they should have just agreed to a simple budget compromise to keep the government running. But NNNNNOOOOOOOOO! They had to be the ones who refused to compromise! Yeah, great work, dummies. We'll see you next November.