Still Drawing Checks
With the shutdown, the government’s been waylaid,
And many a furloughed staffer won’t get paid.
But don’t worry about Congress,
They won’t suffer in this mess.
Despite the shutdown, they still draw their $174K.
Day: October 2, 2013
Shutdown Hits Republican Base: KKK Konclave at Gettysburg National Park Is Canceled
A planned Ku Klux Klan rally at a historic landmark of American history won’t happen due to the federal government shutdown.
The KKK event at Gettysburg National Military Park was canceled due to the government stalemate.
Park officials said they rescinded all permits for special events because of the shutdown that began Tuesday.
The permit had been approved for a Maryland-based KKK group, the Confederate White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, for a Saturday gathering.
5 Million People Accessed California’s Health Insurance Exchange Website on ACA’s Opening Day
5 Million
Number of visits to the website for Covered California, the state-run health-insurance exchange, on Oct. 1, 2013, the day Affordable Care Act exchanges opened nationwide. An estimated 7 million Californians are uninsured, in a state where just 52% of residents get their insurance through their employers.
The Collapse of Institutional Republican Power
What we’re seeing is the collapse of institutional Republican power. It’s not so much about Boehner. It’s things like the end of earmarks. They move away from Tom DeLay and they think they’re improving the House, but now they have nothing to offer their members. The outside groups don’t always move votes directly but they create an atmosphere of fear among the members. And so many of these members now live in the conservative world of talk radio and tea party conventions and Fox News invitations. And so the conservative strategy of the moment, no matter how unrealistic it might be, catches fire. The members begin to believe they can achieve things in divided government that most objective observers would believe is impossible. Leaders are dealing with these expectations that wouldn’t exist in a normal environment.
— Robert Costa, reporter for the right-wing National Review, in an interview with the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein
Cumulative Polling on Congresional Approval Ratings Reveals GOP Vulnerability
I put together this image charting the results from a new national Quinnipiac poll, which shows Democrats taking a nine-point lead over Republicans on the generic congressional ballot — an advantage that’s steadily grown in recent months.
There is simply no good news for the GOP in the Quinnipiac results. Significant majorities oppose Republicans using a shutdown to go after the Affordable Care Act, trust President Obama over the GOP on most national issues, and blame Republicans for gridlock. In all, 74% of Americans disapprove of congressional Republican lawmakers — their lowest score ever in a Quinnipiac poll.
