I believe you know better than this. If you’ve been paying attention, the videos showing PP to be a chop shop for fetal tissue has been debunked to all but the most rabid partisans. The Republican leadership knows better as well. But they know that their rubes don’t know any better, and to stay in their good graces, they’re going to shut down the government.
We’ve seen the movie before. They will shut it down. At some point, Boehner will get the directive from his corporate masters to pass a clean continuing resolution. Enough Republicans will join Democrats to make it happen. Republicans will piss and moan when the veterans’ memorial is closed. In the end, this will accomplish nothing except temporarily placate the war on women faction.
Got me a part-time job down at the local Planned Parenthood, pitchforking fetuses out of the Dumpster into the back of the pick-up trucks. Sweet paycheck, not to mention all the freebies!
The shutdown lasted just one day, over the weekend before Christmas actually. Not exactly a huge tantrum.
It can hardly be described as a ‘temper tantrum’ when a party objects to the abolishing of rules that have defined public discourse for nearly four decades. This was a Big Fucking Deal at the time, and from the vantage point of nearly three decades later, it was clearly a far bigger deal than anyone could have realized even then.
Because what we are looking at this year is - well, I’d say it’s the end result of that, except we’re not at an end yet; the evolution of our politics due to the abolition of the Fairness Doctrine still has a little more room to run. But arriving at a time when Fox News effectively operates the GOP, but even Fox News can’t control the combined results of their own propaganda plus the fruits of 28 years of political talk radio - this is unquestionably a downstream consequence of ditching the Fairness Doctrine.
There was also the quite non-trivial matter on the table of whether we should be funding the Contras in Nicaragua. And the deal that resulted from the shutdown did in fact exclude funding of arms for the Contras, although nonlethal aid was provided.
Just to make it clear, my point isn’t that getting rid of the Fairness Doctrine was good or bad, just that it was a Big Fucking Deal, and not some triviality. Its importance, for good or ill, was far greater than that of a one-day government shutdown. Describing a willingness to go to the mats so far as to shut the government down on a Saturday over something this consequential can hardly be described as a ‘temper tantrum.’
Let’s first hear what his reasons are for changing his mind, shall we? :dubious: I do understand how important it is to feel you’ve scored a point of some kind on some message board, but there really are bigger issues at play, aren’t there?
I see – you make a silly statement that clearly wasn’t true, but shouldn’t be reminded of that statement because really serious things are happening in the world.
No, I think this was the inevitable outcome based on his past behavior.
All I can think of is that you’re under some illusion that Boehner is a Ted Cruz-like politician. He isn’t. I disagree with him on a lot of issues, but he’s fundamentally a pretty reasonable guy. I have a hard time seeing the next Speaker will have a good claim to that.
Then you have to be able to say what’s different now than in any of the previous confrontations.
No, that’s right, he has none of Cruz’s skills. The effective Speaker during the last shutdown wasn’t the Speaker, but a junior Senator. How’d that happen?
If you’re referring to Cruz’s party-before-country, self-before-party approach, well, Boehner looks pretty much the same except not as ruthless or capable. Has he really been less solidly partisan than the Teahadists?
