Republicans vs. Reality
Paul Krugman says the Republican party has fall for its own con: "Last week House Republicans voted for the 40th time to repeal Obamacare. Like the previous 39 votes, this action will have no effect whatsoever. But it was a stand-in for what Republicans really want to do: repeal reality, and the laws of arithmetic in particular. The sad truth is that the modern G.O.P. is lost in fantasy, unable to participate in actual governing. Just to be clear, I’m not talking about policy substance. I may believe that Republicans have their priorities all wrong, but that’s not the issue here. Instead, I’m talking about their apparent inability to accept very basic reality constraints, like the fact that you can’t cut overall spending without cutting spending on particular programs, or the fact that voting to repeal legislation doesn’t change the law when the other party controls the Senate and the White House. Am I exaggerating? Consider what went down in Congress last week."
The Fix's Chris Cillizza pronounces John Boehner "Speaker In Name Only": "From nearly being pushed to a second ballot in the vote for speaker at the start of this Congress to the failure of the farm bill in June, there are signs everywhere that the Ohio Republican has been tasked with leading a Republican conference that has no interest in being led. Boehner has put on a brave face, insisting that bills failing on the floor of the House is part of his more transparent approach to leadership. But, for an institutionalist like Boehner, the rump group of House Republicans who simply won’t cooperate with, well, anything has to be immensely frustrating."
VL Baker, at DailyKos, says it's time to face the reality that Republicans are destroying civilization: "The evidence could not be stronger. Over 30 years have passed since Reagan laid out the Republican economic agenda. It was simple and people wanted to believe. Keep government out of peoples lives and let them keep what they earn. Government is the problem. Make things easy for business to flourish by loosening regulations and lowering their taxes because if business can flourish all will benefit as their profits will 'trickle down' to bring prosperity to all. Fast forward to the present; after more than 30 years of Republican political dominance, the results of Republican/conservative policies are all too apparent. ...The failure of the republican/conservative economic agenda is stunning in its totality."
Shutting Down The Obamacare Shutdown
Paul Ryan and Obamacare: Can he stop Ted Cruz's government shutdown? [Christian Science Monitor]: "Speaking on CBS's 'Face the Nation,' Representative Ryan said he was not in favor of shutting down the government as a way of forcing Democrats to repeal President Obama's health-care law – a political tactic some Republicans, such as Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, have advocated. Instead, he said 'there are more effective ways of achieving that goal' – though he was not asked to name any. What is remarkable about the debate is that Democrats aren't going to repeal Obamacare. Ever. Nor does the Republican Party have any conceivable political lever to make them do so. A government shutdown will not defund Obamacare, nor will it likely change anyone's opinion about it. And yet many Republicans are undaunted – and with good reason."
WaPo's Fact Checker takes on Ted Cruz's claim that the 1995-96 shutdown was good for the GOP: "Cruz is correct that Republicans retained the House and gained in the Senate. But they lost the big prize — the presidency — that had once appeared in reach after the massive Democratic losses in 1994. We presume that Cruz, mentioned as a possible 2016 candidate, still cares about that. From time to time, we have rated politicians on historical accuracy. But this assertion does not easily lend itself to a Pinocchio rating. Cruz is welcome to his opinion, though he might want to check to see whether he’s wearing rose-colored glasses. There are lessons to be learned from the Republican experience in 1995-96, and he appears in danger of ignoring them. Readers are welcome to offer their assessments in the comments section."
G.O.P. Governors Warn Party Members in Congress Not to Shut Government [NY Times] "Worried about the potential impact on the fragile economies in their states, Republican governors this weekend warned their counterparts in Congress not to shut down the federal government as part of an effort to block financing for President Obama’s health care law. A range of Republican governors, including some who have refused to implement elements of the health initiative in their states, said in interviews that a standoff in Washington before the new fiscal year this fall could backfire on the party if it is seen as being responsible for bringing the government to a halt."
Breakfast Sides
U.S. Extends Closing of Some Diplomatic Posts [NY Times]: "Nineteen American diplomatic outposts across the Middle East and North Africa will remain closed this week, the State Department said Sunday, despite what officials said was no new information about terrorist plots that they believe are in the works. One day after President Obama’s top national security aides huddled at the White House, senior lawmakers appeared on television on Sunday with ominous warnings about intelligence 'chatter,' first revealed on Thursday, similar to what American spy agencies picked up in the weeks before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001."
Sarah Kliff at Wonkblog has some advice for young people about the burn their "Obamacare cards": "One question I’ve gotten from a number of readers since that ran is: So what? This isn’t a firm commitment not to purchase coverage; a young adult could always just purchase health insurance at the moment they need it.
Not true! The Affordable Care Act has an open enrollment period, which is the time frame when Americans can enroll in health plans on the marketplace. The whole point of this feature is to prevent people from signing up for coverage en route to the hospital. ...The idea of waiting until one gets sick only works if you manage to schedule said major illness for sometime in the early spring. Otherwise, opting not to enroll is a decision that sticks with you through the early fall."
Max Ehrenfreund, of Political Animal is pessimistic no matter who replaces Bernanke at the Fed: "The Federal Reserve is at a crossroads. Chairman Ben Bernanke is leaving, but he has indicated it might be time for the central bank to begin reabsorbing some of the capital with which it flooded the economy in response to the recession. Everyone’s talking about who will replace Bernanke (which Ezra Klein argues is idle speculation), and charges of sexism have been leveled at the Obama administration for ignoring Janet Yellen (perhaps with justice). Obviously, it’s an important decision for the administration, but it really isn’t that important. Monetary policy alone can’t solve our problems, even if the next chair turns on central banking God mode."
