Republicans Blamed For Shutdown (With Update)

Well, so much for the Republican dream that Obama and the Democrats will be blamed for the shutdown.  Here is a compilation of editorials from around the country regarding the shutdown, and the GOP is receiving near-universal blame for it, even by editorials boards who oppose ObamaCare.

I'm not surprised by this.  I remember the last time the GOP shut down the government.  They tried to blame the Democrats for it back then as well, but that didn't work.  However, I did write a couple days ago that I expected the shutdown to last only a few days, and one reason I thought it would be of short duration is because I knew the GOP would catch endless shit for it, even from folks who usually support the GOP.  But now I think this shutdown could last quite a long time.

During the last couple of days, I've been thinking a lot about an article I read after the 2012 Election. The article discussed how everyone in the Romney Camp was stunned that they lost the election.  One adviser actually said that Romney "was shellshocked" by his loss, Paul Ryan seemed "genuinely shocked," and Ryan's wife "was shaken and cried softly."  One senior Ronmey adviser even said: "We went into the evening confident we had a good path to victory -- I don't think  there was one person who saw it coming."

Well, maybe there wasn't a person in the Romney campaign who saw it coming, but most everybody else outside of Fox News did. I was stunned at the time by the fact that Romney himself "couldn't see the writing on the wall," given that a businessman of his alleged caliber "would presumably want to get the straight scoop on where he stood with the electorate."

Bill Maher describes this GOP inability to see reality as "living in the bubble."  But I believe what we are witnessing here is in fact a form of shellshock which I think has a variety of causes -- e.g., the election and reelection of a Black president, the passage of Health Care Reform after 100 years of trying, a conservative Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of the Health Care Reform law, gay people actually getting some rights, the Pope saying that atheists can go to Heaven, marijuana being legalized in two states, the winding down of two wars, the fact that the GOP base is dying off while the Democratic base is expanding.

I think all of these historic developments over the last few years have overloaded the GOP psyche.  It is just too much for most Republicans to process over such a short period of time, and that is why we are seeing the GOP acting out the way it is now.

I think a lot of the Republicans who actually campaigned on the promise of shutting down the government and who fully support allowing this country to default on its debts are taking these radical positions because they just don't give a shit anymore about this country and the people who populate it. The one thing they do know is that Obama would never agree to shutter the Affordable Care Act.  That's why they made the demand.  They wanted the government to shut down and they want the United States to default on its debts, even though most of them understand a default would cause more economic upheaval.

Bottom line: It's really hard to negotiate with crazy people who are not only willing to bring down the entire country, but apparently want to bring the country down in much the same way terrorists want to. Ironically, these same Republican terrorizers also routinely accuse liberals and progressives of hating America.

UPDATE:  Well, nice try folks:

The monuments in Washington, D.C. -- and particularly the World War II memorial -- have become a symbol for the right to decry the government shutdown, even labeling the National Park Service shutdown "shock troops" designed to toss veterans out at will as they approach the memorial.

On Tuesday, Rep. Steve Palazzo (R-MS) reportedly opened the barricade of the World War II Memorial to let a group of veterans in. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) helped by "distract(ing) a police officer" to sneak the veterans in, according to a reporter on the scene. Even outgoing tea partier Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) made an appearance.

"President Obama is so fixated on forcing Obamacare on the American people that he's even willing to deny World War II veterans the right to access the memorial they have earned through their heroic service," Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) said in a statement on Wednesday.

Republicans say President Barack Obama has been so obsessed with pushing a governmental shutdown that he's refusing to allow anyone into the national parks and monuments (even though the National Park Service said on Wednesday that veterans would be allowed to visit the World War II memorial).

You just can't make this shit up.  The whole thing reminds me of a crappy movie.  Get better writers next time, GOP.