After Wisconsin, how do Democrats argue against a GOP government shutdown?
The obvious point here is that if it’s so “reckless” to shutdown the government, why have Wisconsin legislators, the President and the DNC all supported the government shutdown in Wisconsin? Not only that, they have shutdown the government by fleeing the state and breaking the law, not to mention the illegal union strikes shutting down schools and national Democrats helping to organize the angry mob descending on Madison.
Conventional wisdom in the Beltway has it that a government shutdown would be bad for Republicans, just as it was the last time it happened in 1995, when Former GOP Speaker Newt Gingrich took on Clinton over the budget. However, Michael Barone recently made the point that it may not have been that bad — Republicans only lost 9 seats in 1996 after the historic gains in 1994. (True, Clinton won in 1996 but Bob Dole’s candidacy was never much competition.)
Blowback
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Easy.
Through the lying media, that’s how.
Next question?
artist on February 20, 2011 at 4:33 PM
Liberals and hypocrisy are best buddies and nothing you say is going to split them up.
sharrukin on February 20, 2011 at 4:38 PM
Gee, lazy and stupid people failed to think out their knee jerk strategy.
joeindc44 on February 20, 2011 at 4:38 PM
The author employed logic. Big mistake. Our nation’s Spock doesn’t employ logic. Or math, for that matter. And the media just follows his cool Vulcan lead.
Republicans are evil. That’s all you need to know.
beatcanvas on February 20, 2011 at 4:39 PM
The usual hypocrisy and media spin. What else is new?
KingGold on February 20, 2011 at 4:39 PM
The Dems in the Wisconsin assembly are also crying because they weren’t given enough time to read Walker’s 144 page bill.
Don’t those silly Republican’s know it’s only fair to do that when the bill is a few thousand pages long?!?!?
PetecminMd on February 20, 2011 at 4:40 PM
Isn’t the GOP going to nominate Dole again for 2012?
xkaydet65 on February 20, 2011 at 4:46 PM
I’m not quite as plugged in these past few weeks as I normally am so… is the GOP absolutely beating he snot out of democrats over this circus? I mean I would be playing up the liberal flight in WI to the hilt 24/7. Running from their jobs, dereliction of duty, unfit to lead and no let up.
Dash on February 20, 2011 at 4:47 PM
“Democracy is only when the left wins”.
Obama is their ‘Leader’.
Schadenfreude on February 20, 2011 at 4:47 PM
it’s only a shutdown when conservatives do it.
when libs do it it’s what democracy looks like.
and another thing:
the constitution is a living document – except for liberal decisions which are stare decisis/written in stone an immutable.
and another ‘nother thing;
raising taxes only depresses economic activity on bad things like tobacco and transfats and sugary soft drink. raising taxes on general business activity or higher income has no depressing effect at all.
and so on
reliapundit on February 20, 2011 at 4:49 PM
Mark and his wife Mollie Ziegler Hemingway are both adept writers. He on politics and she on my church body, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
OmahaConservative on February 20, 2011 at 4:51 PM
Oh, come on, Hemingway.
When the Dems & teachers unions shut down the Wisconsin legislature, “it’s for the children.”
When the Dems and Obama don’t want the GOP to shut down the federal government, “it’s for the children.”
Wethal on February 20, 2011 at 4:54 PM
Exactly. It’s so routine now, why ask why.
Kenosha Kid on February 20, 2011 at 5:08 PM
Yes, but when private-sector husband-wife worker families have to start making childcare arrangement for kids younger than, say, junior high, I have to believe the bottom drops completely out of the “Workers of Wisconsin Unions Unite” movement. If I were a parent, I’d be demanding a Parent-Teacher Conference to chew out my kid’s teacher.
When do Wisconsinites begin demanding school vouchers so that they can send their kids to a decent school?
I’d love to see Scott lock these turds out, fire them, and run a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal for new teachers.
BuckeyeSam on February 20, 2011 at 5:25 PM
ding ding ding
cmsinaz on February 20, 2011 at 5:43 PM
cool oc
cmsinaz on February 20, 2011 at 5:48 PM
I fail to see how GOP is CAUSING any shutdown. They passed the CR. Now if the Senate passes it, it can go to Obama. Done – no shutdown. What’s that you say? If the Senate refuses to pass the CR, then that means that the GOP caused the shutdown. I get it now. NOT.
txmomof6 on February 20, 2011 at 5:55 PM
It does. Milwaukee’s was the subject of a court challenge; WI SC upheld it; SCOTUS refused to review, but did hold a similar Cleveland voucher program constitutional.
The problem is the availability of private school slots. One wonders if some WI Protestants are checking out Catholic parochial schools right now.
Or WI parents could start checking into starting charter schools.
wicharterschhols.org
Funding for WI public schools and staffing is no doubt based on enrollment. Protested themselves into unemployemnt did they….
Wethal on February 20, 2011 at 5:57 PM
the MSM is on the side of the dems…they will portray the gop in a bad light, even though NO ONE on the gop could bring up the fact that they are working on a budget that the DEMS couldn’t even pass in the first place…
cmsinaz on February 20, 2011 at 5:57 PM
txmom, you’re expecting logical consistency from Democrats?
You know, the ones who liked the filibuster when the GOP had the senate, but considered getting rid of the filibuster when the Dems took over?
Wethal on February 20, 2011 at 5:59 PM
That was ’95 and this is ’11. A lot has changed in 16 years. The left does not have the same stranglehold on the news cycle it had then. Fox News and conservative blogs are now making them more accountable.
If the government is shut down, the liberals will blame it on the conservatives, the conservatives will blame it on the liberals. And the independents will probably split. I would expect even less damage than in ’96.
topdog on February 20, 2011 at 6:09 PM
Between The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, The Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod and The Evangelical Lutheran Synod WI has the most extensive Lutheran parochial school system of any state. I’d bet the protestants would look at those first.
OmahaConservative on February 20, 2011 at 6:11 PM
Sometimes something is so obvious, we overlook it…here is an analysis that most everyone overlooked, brilliant.
Now if we could just get the Republicans to do what the dems do, just keep repeating the same thing over and over and over, no matter what the subject is.
It is a curse to be a conservative and have a mind of your own…
right2bright on February 20, 2011 at 6:11 PM
Wethal on February 20, 2011 at 5:59 PM
I expect no logic at all from Democrats, I just don’t understand why the GOP is so frightened of language about the threat of a shutdown. All they have to do is say we did our duty to keep the government open, now Dems put up or shut up if you don’t want a shutdown.
txmomof6 on February 20, 2011 at 6:13 PM
Want an education…have the Germans educate you. Both my kids, great attorneys, the foundation? Lutheran school.
Yu vill learn, and yu vill injoy it…
right2bright on February 20, 2011 at 6:14 PM
Yup. I sure did, corporal punishment and all.
OmahaConservative on February 20, 2011 at 6:20 PM
good point
cmsinaz on February 20, 2011 at 6:20 PM
That was my impression too. My parents sent me and my siblings to a large Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod K-8 school in the Chicagoland in the 1960s and 1970s. Although they did a mediocre job of teaching composition (grammar, usage, and the like), the education overall was very good. In the Chicagoland, at least then, the network of Lutheran school was widespread, though nowhere near the prevalence of Catholic schools. That said, in Wisconsin, we’d always heard the network of Lutheran schools was far more extensive.
Beyond that, I just spoke with some friends how live in Chicago (Lincoln Park). They’re protestants, and they send their kids about 15 miles to a Catholic high school in a nearby suburb. Catholic schools across the country–at least the high schools–could experience a surge of applicants if these public-sector-union teachers keep up this nonsense.
BuckeyeSam on February 20, 2011 at 6:26 PM
Hah! At my Lutheran K-8 school, the parents didn’t merely accept corporeal punishment administered by teachers–they expected it and demanded it! And, in many cases, it paled in comparison to what awaited us when word was sent home about shenanigans. You knew your place. I had a great eight years.
BuckeyeSam on February 20, 2011 at 6:32 PM
We have a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod K-8 school at my parish and I sit on the board of finance and stewardship. Had an annual budget meeting after Divine Service today. We ‘found’ the money (in this economy) to subsidize the school once again, and over fifty percent of our students are non-Lutheran protestants.
I went to Wisconsin Synod Lutheran Day School. They seem to take Lutheran education more seriously than we in the LCMS do these days.
OmahaConservative on February 20, 2011 at 6:34 PM
My azz was tanned much worse at home after the pastor/principal tanned it in the sixties when I was at Lutheran school.
OmahaConservative on February 20, 2011 at 6:36 PM
On the other hand, our “top” candidates for ’12 are just a bunch of compassionate conservative Dole and Bush clones.
FloatingRock on February 20, 2011 at 6:38 PM
It’s because Democrats are high school children in how they understand ideas of money and fairness.
cpaulus on February 20, 2011 at 6:41 PM
And isn’t it all still because the Dems didn’t pass a budget for this year when they were in charge?
miConsevative on February 20, 2011 at 6:56 PM
miConsevative on February 20, 2011 at 6:56 PM
yep, and then they got busted when they tried to do the Omnibus in the lame duck. That was sweet.
txmomof6 on February 20, 2011 at 7:09 PM
Well, that’s good to know. Here in Philly, the Catholics have a good parochial school system, and in some inner city schools, there are almost as many non-Catholics as Catholics. Some parents work two jobs to make the tuition. It’s worth it to get the kids out of the public schools.
Wethal on February 20, 2011 at 7:47 PM
That’s an interesting thought. I’ll definitely be checking that website out. Thanks for that.
Badger State Dave on February 20, 2011 at 8:31 PM