Boehner takes on critics on his right

“They pushed us into the fight to defund Obamacare and shut down the government,” Boehner said. “That wasn’t exactly the strategy I had in mind. But if you recall, the day before the government reopened, one of these groups stood up and said, ‘Well, we never really thought it would work.’ Are you kidding me!”

It wasn’t exactly the strategy, but I imagine close enough.

I have written before that the Tea Party represents an insurgency against those incumbent forces inside the US government that want to maintain the status quo. The insurgency has now split itself into two groups.

Boehner represents the first group. They are End Timers who want to see an “end” in the way the US government does business. They own the re-districts, which were formed to keep this group in office, at least they hope to “own” them long enough to enact change that is the strategy.

The Second group is now, after the split, represented by the Tea Party.

The Tea Party doesn’t want to end the way the government does business, they simply want something out of the government. They want what belongs to them. They want,as Americans, security from terror.

For those of us inside today’s America, this terror (and what terror produces, i.e.  fear) is represented in many forms. The terror of abandonment by corporate America, the terror of losing unfunded pensions promised by the US government, and the terror of there being no “real” future for the coming generations. Much of this terror is shared by members in both groups.

For the second group, this terror comes from, in part, by the war on terror America has been waging for over a decade. The fear in this case is the result of the general feeling that America isn’t really winning the war. Trillions gone and thousands of our soldiers dead and for what?  The last sentence could be the Tea Party’s battle cry.

At least I can understand the feelings of the second group. Terror is not a rational emotion, and it is hard for a person and for a nation to think rationally when under terror’s threat. And that threat comes in the form of fear for the continuation of our nation and way of life. The fear is that neither of these things will continue. The fear is that the interest in the values our nation represents in its economy will no longer be relevant, and the honor we feel being Americans holding those values will be lost.

On the other hand, I have no idea what the first group (Boehner’s group) is talking about.

All I know is that it is enough to make a person cry.

via Boehner takes on critics on his right – The Washington Post.

House cancels vote on plan to reopen government

The Republican-controlled House canceled a vote Tuesday night on a plan to reopen the federal government and raise the debt ceiling after support from conservatives for the deal crumbled, leaving Washington without a clear path forward for avoiding a first-ever default on the nation’s debt.

The Republican-controlled House does have a clear path forward, it’s just that the path is so insane that no body in Washington understands its simplicity.

The Republican-controlled House plans, because the House Conservatives are such “doers“, to piecemeal the handling of the U.S. debt. This path is similar to the piecemeal starting of the government that the same House Republicans favored during the shutdown of the government.

To understand the Republican-controlled House one needs to understand that, in the minds of the now Republican-controlled House, Hurricane Katrina was not a failure of small government.

To the House Republicans (they can be now called a George W. Bush Republican majority held House) Hurricane Katrina was a failure of the people to adapt to small government.

As such, Hurricane Katrina now represents how the House Republicans plan to govern the U.S. budget, in this time of crisis.

For the Democrats, I suggest they find higher ground that is not located in Washington D.C..

via House cancels vote on plan to reopen government – The Washington Post.

Obama and Democrats, united by shutdown, looking for gains beyond it

The Democrats’ strategy has been made easier by the fact that the GOP went into the shutdown with no prospect of succeeding in its demand to gut the Affordable Care Act and with no fallback plan.

There is winning and losing strategy, but, because of its nature, all strategy has a flaw.

The flaw in the GOP’s strategy was in the means it actually had in re-opening the government. It turned out, when it came to doing something instead of being something (a Congressman in the House of Representatives) the GOP had nothing to “do”.

The GOP had wanted to open only those parts of the government that was needed, but ended up wanting to open all parts of the government.

You may ask, why did they want to open all parts of the government? Because, like faith-based domestic programs, they need all parts of the government to make it work.

I grant you it is a minor flaw, but devastating if you are a member of the House Republicans.

There is another Wingnut, waiting to take your seat, even nuttier than you, and you just gave him/her your seat.

Thanks

Signed, The People

via Obama and Democrats, united by shutdown, looking for gains beyond it – The Washington Post.

GOP aides: Boehner tells colleagues he will avoid a default on federal debt – The Washington Post

House Speaker John A. Boehner, apparently sharing Obama administration alarm about a possible debt default, has told colleagues he will act to raise the federal debt limit even if he has to rely on the votes of House Democrats, GOP aides said Thursday.

I always thought Boehner was one of those weepy-eyed end-timers, who has decided to stand, wringing their hands, waiting for the world to end.

Climate-change and something unimportant to them such as not paying the world back for the money they lent us, means nothing to these people.

Apparently I was wrong about Boehner.

via GOP aides: Boehner tells colleagues he will avoid a default on federal debt – The Washington Post.

Senate rejects latest House proposal as federal government grinds to a halt

President Obama, declaring that his signature health-care law is “here to stay,” urged House Republicans on Tuesday to stop trying to derail it and instead “reopen the government” following a shutdown that took effect at midnight.

If the shutting-down of the U.S. government was a game, then Obama and the Democratic Party wins. It comes down to whose “cheap trick” was the best in the strategy of the game.

The House Republican’s “cheap trick” was to defund Obamacare, or they would shut-down the government. Their plan was to start with defunding the whole program, and if that didn’t work, at least get some little token for their effort.

I am sure the Republicans knew how fragile Obamacare is, and defunding any part of Obamacare would pretty much assure a failure down the line.

And there is no doubt that Obamacare is fragile, at least as it is being implemented. Obama has had to get help from business in ways that would only make any good Republican giggle. The problem with the Republican strategy: they had no concept of their strategy failing.

Without the concept of failure (the Government would actually shutdown), they had no backup plan for keeping the government actually running, like the House Democrats did when the Democratic majority in the House last shut the government down.

It was different seventeen years ago when the government was last shut down. There was no animosity towards the POTUS, nor against the Senate, because the economy was running pretty good, and the Republicans could relate to the POTUS, if they actually didn’t like him.

Today, House Republicans don’t relate to this POTUS, nor do most actually like him or even know him. You really need to be able to relate to someone before you know someone.

So now the government is  shutting down, and the Republicans in the House past about 3 bills (which the President and Democrats voted for or signed) that will help keep things moving if the government actually shuts down.

I think the House Strategy, if this was a game, failed because those who have control of the Republican Party actually wanted to shut the government down, in the worst way possible, and they did.

I guess the Democrats will just have to see if their strategy gives them enough power to “win”, as the government shuts down.

via Senate rejects latest House proposal as federal government grinds to a halt – The Washington Post.