I confess that I don’t quite see the motivation for doing otherwise, because that would mean at least obliquely acknowledging that Republicans are in fact not blackguardly rapscallions whose singular goals extend no further than spitefully denying health insurance and food stamps to poor families while personally humiliating President Obama — and that ain’t gonna’ fly. Click the pic to watch at Mediaite:

I thank the senator from New York for his heartfelt concern for the Republican party, and I note that the senator from New York stated that I “have advocated shutting down the government.” That statement, unfortunately, is a flat-out falsehood, and I know the senator from New York would not do so knowingly. So, it must have been a mistaken statement, because throughout the course of this debate I have said repeatedly, in every context, we should not shut the government down. A shutdown is a mistake, and I very much hoped that the majority leader would not force a shutdown on this country. We are in a shutdown because the Democrats in this body have refused to negotiate, refused to compromise. And I would note as well, I am quite grateful for the majority leader’s admonition this morning towards civility on the floor, and the senator from Illinois’s admonition towards Rule 19. That it an admonition well heard, indeed, it was quite striking — you know, it has been several days since I have been to the floor of the Senate and yet, I feel that I have been here in absentia, because so many Democrats have invoked my name as the root of all evil in the world. And indeed, the same majority leader that gave an ode to civility, just a few days ago was describing me, and anyone who might agree that we should stop the harms of ObamaCare, describing us as “anarchists.” So I think the encouragement toward civility is an encouragement that should be heard across the board.