Day: October 1, 2013
Attention American Media: Both Sides are NOT to Blame
Perhaps as inevitable as the government shutdown for which the Republicans and tea party are solely responsible is the press’s telling of it. In their version, it’s a 50/50 deal between Republicans and Democrats. But then, isn’t everything, even the stuff that’s clearly not?
For those of you playing along at home, take a shot today every time you hear these words or phrases:
- stalemate in Congress
- seek a compromise
- a game of political chicken…when neither side blinked
- each has refused to budge
- amid the finger-wagging
If you’re still sober enough to read, please note those quotes came from a single CNN story.
Eric Boehlert at Media Matters is not only pushing back on the old “Republicans and Democrats are equally to blame” journalistic cop-out, he’s actually holding reporters who use it responsible for what’s happening.
Quinnipiac Poll: 72% of Voters Disapprove of Republican Government Shutdown
72%
Share of voters according to a new Quinnipiac poll who disapprove of the Republicans’ decision to shut down the government. Just 22% approve of the GOP shutdown gambit.
Caught on Tape – Republicans Have Been Planning This Government Shutdown Since 2009
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As the federal government was shutting down last night, Rep. Michele Bachmann, the tea party leader, captured the moment for her cohorts, “It’s exactly what we wanted, and we got it.”
On her MSNBC show last night, As Rachel Maddow demonstrated with archival recordings of comments by tea party politicians going back to 2009 that shutting down the government has been their objective from the outset.
Rough Transcript:
Tea Baggers Claim to Love the Constitution – So How Can They Ignore It When It Gets in the Way of Their Anti-Obama Obsession?
I thought tea partyists were supposed to revere the Constitution. The Constitution lays out two ways to undo a law — repeal it through legislation or challenge it in court. Republicans have tried both routes — 42 repeals and lawsuits all the way up to SCOTUS — and it has all failed. What they’re doing now, threatening to shut down the govt and/or ruin the full faith and credit of the United States if the president refuses to submit to their demands, is not only a thuggish act of desperation, it is an affront to the constitution.
What’s worse, of course, is that they have been plotting the government shutdown since 2009, as Rachel Maddow reported last night. Not unlike their obsession with invading Iraq in 2003, they were determined to do it at any cost, all they needed was a pretext. Then it was 9/11; now it’s opening day for the Affordable Care Act.
