Friday, October 11, 2013

How's that shut down strategy working for you, GOP?


Remember when the extremist Conservatives assured the GOP that the shutdown wouldn't hurt their popularity?



Uh OH! Looks like someone was badly wrong (not that the right ever admits it when they are).

For example, from the Hill:
Heritage Action says shutdown strategy won't hurt GOP
By Elise Viebeck - 08/14/13 10:53 AM ET

Heritage Action is pushing back against claims that allowing a government shutdown in a move to defund ObamaCare would hurt the Republican Party.

The powerful conservative pressure group released a poll Wednesday suggesting that a majority of voters (60 percent) would approve of a "temporary slow-down" in non-essential government functions if it leads to a "time out" in the Affordable Care Act's implementation.

The Aug. 7-8 survey from Basswood Research suggested that voters would blame President Obama and congressional Democrats more than they would blame Republicans for a partial shutdown.
In materials accompanying the poll, Heritage Action proclaimed that the House Republican majority is "not at stake" over the defunding threat.

"There is nobody who denies this will require courage," said Heritage Action CEO Michael Needham on a call with reporters. "Maybe [Congress's] approval rating is at 12 percent because they haven't tried to inspire people."

The survey represents the latest volley in a struggle between conservative and establishment Republicans on how to handle the fiscal debates that await Congress this fall.

Heritage Action and a long list of conservative groups are supporting a campaign by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) to pass government funding bills in September that do not include money for ObamaCare.

Proponents of the strategy suggest that it will force Obama to choose whether to fund the healthcare law or shut down the government when the current operations bills expire on Sept. 30.
Will this hurt Republicans in 2014? They don't think so, not even now.  Even some Democrats aren't sure it will. But formerly Red/Republicans states have turned blue, or at least purple, after shut downs in the past.  It is not likely to help them; it remains to be seen if it hurts them and how much.

But expect "teh right wing denial" to continue.



1 comment:


  1. Isn’t it time to declare that the House Republicans have won ?

    They wanted spending cuts, tax cuts for the medical device industry, subsidies for Ag, etc. … and they are getting them.

    Instead of passing appropriations bills that are haggled out between the Senate and House versions, a Continuing Resolution will be used. So instead of fighting out individual departments … the House is approving funding at levels below sequestration or at sequestration, while the Senate is pushing for higher funding … by using the CR, they avoid the House-Senate conference and force a “yes” vote on a Christmas tree bill with presents for the undeserving but vocal.

    Take the tax cut for medical devices -- a 2.3% user tax (you sell a pacemaker, a tax is applied -- not to the cost of the surgery but just to the device -- remember that the device cost could be $4,000 to $10,000 while patients not covered by insurance, a pacemaker and heart-assist implant can cost $19,000 -$96,000 or more, depending on the type of pacemaker, the location and length of the hospital stay. So the excise tax could be $230 … not exactly that much difference when considering the scope of the total bill.

    Currently, the talk is to repeal the excise tax and replace it with a change in pension funding requirements. Now, we know that the number of pension plans is dropping every day as business now favor 401k plans … changing the pension rules will just encourage the 35% of employers that still have defined pension plans to cut those … which means less money coming in to pay for healthcare.
    Will your two Senators who have pushed hard for the repeal see that they are undercutting the Affordable Care Act … will they tell the public what they are doing ?
    Eliminating the logical funding stream from medical devices will produce future complaints that we cannot afford Obamacare … and that is the Republican goal.

    And now that the Republicans have proven that they are willing to use a shutdown, why won’t they do the same thing in October, 2014. At that time, the election will be a month away but because most of the districts are so gerrymandered, there really won’t be that many in play … look at MN-03 where Paulsen does not even have a challenger … and for those in play, the incumbent will have a choice, move to hold the base and win by embracing another shutdown, or admit that the Democrat is going to win anyhow, and work for another shutdown.

    While it may appear that the Republicans have high disapprovals, they are influencing spending and tax policies that benefit their Corporate-backers … they are winning.

    ReplyDelete