November 06, 2013 10:31 AM UTC

Tipton: "I Never Voted To Shut Down Government"

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• by: Colorado Pols

WEDNESDAY UPDATE: MSNBC's Steve Benen:

In this case, just about everything the audience member said was true. The dozens of repeal votes took place over more than six months, but when it comes to budget talks and the shutdown, the local voter got it right, and when Tipton said otherwise, the congressman was wrong. 
 
For that matter, it’s not “disingenuous” to be say Republican were “playing politics” when they shut down the government for no apparent reason, since that’s pretty much exactly what happened.
 
But just as important was Tipton saying, “I never voted to shut down government.” I emphasize this not just because the Colorado Republican is misleading the public, but also because I suspect this will be what nearly all House Republicans say over the next year, when they’re forced to defend their fiasco. [Pols emphasis]

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A brutal pair of town hall meetings held by Rep. Scott Tipton of Colorado recently illustrate the challenges for Republican members of Congress, after the last month's shutdown of the federal government for which the GOP has been overwhelmingly blamed by voters. Last week, we released video of Tipton's rocky Montrose town hall meeting one week ago last Saturday, in which angry constituents grilled Tipton on the shutdown, the Affordable Care Act, and proposed universal federal background checks for gun buyers.

Here's another clip of video from the same town hall tour, this one from the night before at Grand Junction City Hall. In this clip, a constituent challenges Tipton in some detail about the GOP-controlled House's intransigence with regard to budget negotiations, which led to the shutdown:

Here's a transcript of this memorable exchange:

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Congressman, once again you're only telling half the story. On March 23rd 2013, the Senate its budget resolution, and you could have started a conference committee right then. But for six months, Speaker Boehner refused to appoint the conferees. And the Senate Democr–I mean Senate Republicans, filibustered Harry Reid's attempt to appoint conferees. So instead of voting to defund Obamacare 46 times in that six months, we could have been having a conference committee. Why didn't we have a conference committee? Because it was your strategy to shut down the government and threaten default. And that's what this is all about, and you know it.

TIPTON: Well I'll correct you, because you are wrong.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Good.

TIPTON: It was never my strategy to shut down the government. As I stated from the very beginning, I did not want to see government shut down. I never voted to shut down government. [Pols emphasis] And it is disingenuous to be asserting that only the Republican can play politics, and Democrats… [inaudible, applause]

The fact that the overwhelming majority of Americans, including a majority of Republicans, disapprove of the GOP-controlled House because of their behavior leading to the government shutdown makes this an especially noteworthy denial. In addition, polling shows growing personal vulnerability for Tipton in the wake of the shutdown. By repeatedly voting for resolutions tying operation of the government to conditions neither the Senate nor the President would ever accept, it is the judgment of most Americans that Tipton and his fellow House Republicans did indeed, repeatedly, "vote to shut down the government." Republicans demanded concessions in exchange for what the President and the public considered their basic fiduciary duties, and their choice to continue making such demands for two weeks after the shutdown is what prolonged it. It was only after the polls showed unrecoverable disaster for Republicans that they relented, ultimately passing a resolution with none of their demands.

Public opinion on the shutdown is sufficiently lopsided that it seems to us Tipton could only hope to get away with this kind of total fictionalization before the very friendliest of audiences. Yes, Grand Junction might be one such beet-red place.

Unfortunately, there are video cameras. And outside that friendly bubble, denial doesn't make Tipton look good.