What did they expect?
by digby
If you are the Party that insists you want to drown government in the bathtub and you have repeatedly shut it down to make a political point, people aren’t likely to believe it when you try to blame the other side for doing what you’ve been doing:
Republicans in Congress would shoulder the blame for a shutdown at the Department of Homeland Security if they are unable to enact a new spending bill to keep the agency running, according to a new CNN/ORC poll. The survey finds 53% of Americans would blame the Republicans in Congress if the department must shut down, while 30% would blame President Barack Obama. Another 13% say both deserve the blame.
According to Greg Sargent, the Senate Democrats aren’t backing down despite today’s GOP victory dance over a conservative Texas judge’s injunction:
Today Republicans seized on the Texas court ruling to call on Senate Democrats to drop their filibuster. Their focus is on a handful of moderate Democrats who have previously expressed discomfort with Obama’s executive actions, but have nonetheless voted to sustain a filibuster of the GOP effort to tie their rollback to Homeland Security funding. But Democratic leaders have been in touch with some of these Senators and see no signs they will change their stance in large enough numbers to matter, aides say.
“This doesn’t change anything,” one Senate Democratic leadership aide tells me. “Everyone knew this judge would rule this way, and initial calls reveal no wobbliness whatsoever.” This aide adds that the GOP strategy of calling for yet another vote on this next week — after forcing three previous votes on it — is only further “entrenching our members.”
A second Democratic leadership aide tells me that it would be folly for Democrats to change their strategy now, given that it’s perfectly possible the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals could reverse the injunction. This aide also notes that even moderate Democrats are dug in against the tactic Republicans are using — staging a shutdown fight to force a policy change — a stance that is unlikely to be altered by the lower court ruling.
If I had a dollar for every time I was assured that “moderate” Democrats wouldn’t back down in the face of Republican mau-mauing I’d be retired in Hawaii right now. But this time might actually be different. The Republicans have managed to unseat most of the Democrats they could count on to go wobbly and the rest are less likely to get nervous this far from an election. It’s more risky for them than it is for the Dems — they are basically fighting with themselves.
Then again, if I had a dollar …
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