I have to hand it to the Republicans. They definitely know how to repeat something enough times that people start to believe it. Their latest talking point is that the Democrats are refusing to negotiate with them about the shutdown.
What’s hypocritical about their claim is that it is only true since the shutdown started. No less than 19 times, starting in April, the Democrats tried to negotiate with the Republicans to avoid a shutdown, but the GOP refused. Just minutes before midnight when there was no longer any chance of averting a shutdown, the Republicans suddenly tried to start conference-committee negotiations between the House and the Senate. And the Senate appropriately replied “We will not go to conference with a gun to our head”.
What’s worse is that Democrats already gave in to all the Republican demands on this budget. The Republicans even claimed that passing a clean CR with sequester-level funding was a victory for the party as recently as September 6th. So who is refusing to compromise and is shutting down the government if they don’t get everything they want? And even demanding more if they do get what they want?
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I can guarantee you, by 2014 midterms, people will have forgotten most of this. Republicans know what they are doing, liberals are rejoicing that republicans will lose election because of this, but I highly doubt.