Wisconsin’s Ron Johnson, who ran for the Senate on a promise to stop Obamacare, echoed Sessions’ words. “I’ve done a lot of strategic planning in my lifetime, and the first step in developing a strategy is you have to recognize reality,” Johnson said. “And it is a very sad, unfortunate fact that with President Obama in the White House, and Harry Reid in the Senate, the only way you can realistically defund Obamacare is to repeal it, and … we haven’t had one Democrat break ranks and join us.”…

Now some Republicans are laying out the math. Stopping Obamacare funding would require a Republican filibuster. That would take 41 votes to uphold. There are 46 Republicans in the House. That means that if just six GOP lawmakers broke ranks and voted with Democrats to continue funding, the effort would fail.

Several Republicans have already voiced outright opposition to the defunding proposal. Sen. Tom Coburn called it “dishonest.” Sen. Richard Burr called it “the dumbest idea I’ve ever heard of.” Sen. Roy Blunt said it “won’t work.” Sen. Saxby Chambliss said the same. So did Sen. Mike Johanns. Sen. Susan Collins said it’s unrealistic. Sen. John McCain said it’s not going to happen. Sen. Bob Corker called it a “silly effort.”

That’s eight who have chosen to speak out. None will vote for a Obamacare defunding measure that could lead to a shutdown. And if just those eight decline to support a defunding effort, it will fail. And remember, a total of 33 Republicans have declined to sign the Lee letter.