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October 17, 2013 10:46 AM UTC

How'd That Work Out For You, GOP?

  • 34 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: Politico with the beginnings of Republican post-defeat introspection:

The question racing around Washington now is: Have Republicans learned their lesson? Will the GOP finally understand that when you touch the stove, it burns?

Within Republican circles, however, there’s widespread disagreement about exactly what lesson the party might stand to learn. If there’s general consensus that the party got burned, there are already competing narratives on the right about whose hand it was that touched the burner.

—–

NBC News' First Read sums up what the Republicans ended up with after three weeks of a government shutdown (hint: nothing):

After 16 days of shutdown, after coming close to default, and after it all took a toll on the U.S. economy, we saw two different political outcomes: 1) The Republican Party took a significant hit, and 2) President Obama finds himself in a stronger place than he was a month ago. For the GOP, what it got from the shutdown was all pain and no gain. Major changes to President Obama’s health-care law? Nope. Change to funding levels that would have been different from a clean continuing resolution? Nope. Entitlement reforms? Nope. Leverage the GOP can use before the health law fully goes into effect on Jan. 1? Nope. And here’s what Republicans got in return, according to last week’s NBC/WSJ poll: more of the blame for the shutdown, the party’s favorability rating declining to an all-time low, the health-care law becoming more popular, and Democrats having a better shot in the 2014 midterms than they did before the shutdown.

Not only did Republicans wind up with steaming turd as a prize for throwing a wrench into the government, they also missed an opportunity to rail against Obamacare backed by actual evidence (not much, but still); the coverage of computer problems and glitches in the first week of the Affordable Care Act was subdued in large part because the news cycle was dominated by the shutdown.

Oh, and don't forget that here in Colorado (dubious reporting notwithstanding), the shutdown put Republican Senate candidates Ken Buck and Owen Hill on the record in support of one of the most disastrous strategic political moves in recent memory. Not to mention the untold damage done to the re-election hopes of Rep. Mike Coffman, who made a genuine ass of himself of Ted Cruz-level proportions.

But other than that, this worked out swell.

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34 thoughts on “How’d That Work Out For You, GOP?”

  3. Just read that some think it is a positive for the GOTP that the can only got kicked down the road to January (government funding) and February (debt ceiling). Given how badly this showdown went for the Repubs, it seems to me that the Dems should be excited about another tea party tantrum in early 2014.  What am I missing?

      2. Elliot, what do you think this will mean for Lamborn?  This debacle really hurt people. But I'm sure he has his rationale all in place, and it's a long time until next November.  So he's got that going for him.

        1. Lamborn's seat is a very safe seat.  His only real risk is a primary and even that is difficult to pull off given the past failures to unseat him.  

          I think this will be used as further evidence by some that Lamborn is not eloquent enough to be the representative of his conservative district in Congress.  While I don't expect that argument to go anywhere, I'm not really good at making political predictions. 

          1. Irv Halter is going to make some inroads into Big Government centric Colorado Springs.  His military background and connections to Colorado Springs through the Air Force Academy are definite plus'.  Lamborn was willing to throw soldiers under the bus for his ideological jihad.  He'll probably win re-election but he hardly endeared himself to rank and file government employees in the Springs.

              1. That's true. Jay Fawcett got 41% against Lamborn's first tun in 2006, following a contentious GOP primary in which the retiring incumbent had pulled for a different candidate. That's likely the best any Democrat will do as long as CD5 remains drawn as it is. That district is redder than a godless commie.

      3. So, then . . .

        " . . . Some are in denial. . . . "

        . . . you're saying it's just another case of "situation normal" for the modern Republican Party??????

  4. And to add insult to injury, remember how the GOTP kept claiming they were speaking for the people, in spite of the fact that the people voted for Obama and a Dem majority in the Senate in 2012, because polls showed the people were against the ACA?  Well turns out, now that they know more about it, thanks in part to the GOTP extortion attempt, not so much…

    A minority of voters nationwide support the GOP's call to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, according to poll findings released Wednesday. 

    The survey conducted by Democratic firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner showed that 58 percent of voters want the health care law implemented and then fixed, compared with only 38 percent who share the view held by many Republicans that Obamacare should be repealed and replaced. 

    Thirty-eight percent of voters said they oppose the law because it goes too far, while 45 percent said they favor it and eight percent said they oppose it because it does not go far enough

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/dem-poll-only-38-percent-want-to-repeal-obamacare

    1. Please note that if you add the 45% in favor to the 8% opposed because it doesn't go far enough, you get 53% who clearly don't think it's too extreme lefty or that it's an evil un-American commie attack on apple pie and stuff. True, it's one Dem firm poll but it's in line with other polls that show a decrease in opposition during the two week nightmare imposed by the TP and their cowardly enablers. So they not only got nothing. They got nothing minus. As they so richly deserve.

    2. Apologies in advance if this comment has non-sequiturs — pasted a comment into the box and it disappeared with just a dot showing.

      Anyway, BC to your point:  GOTP kept claiming they were speaking for the people –

      That is true up to a point.  They are speaking for the (tiny percentage) of people they listen and agree with.  FOX, Limbaugh and the rest have constructed a fortress of solitude where Reason dare not enter.

      OTP kept claiming they were speaking for the people – See more at: http://coloradopols.com/diary/50766/howd-that-work-out-for-you-gop#sthash.mVsaORzu.dpuf

        1. . . . damn, you're actually gonna' try that old "reasonable man" gambit on us ?!?   Finally, now?!?          ;~)

          Anyway, it has always seemed more like:  "Speaking for the . . . [voices that . . . FOX/Kochs/Hannity/Bachmann/Limbaugh . . . have beamed into my tri-cornered head] . . ."

            1. (before that I hadn't really thought about the issues of saying "we the people" or "speaking for grassroots" when coming at it from a liberty movement perspective)

    1. It will figure prominently in his re-election campaign.  Bringing home the bacon is a big reason incumbents get re-elected.  His Tea Partyer primary opponent will slam him for wasteful pork, and his Dem opponent might also say it's an example of misplaced priorities.

      McConnell will just smile and say he's working for his state.  Guess Kentuckians will have to judge for themselves.

  8. Looks like our crongressman from Weldistan, Cory Gardner, voted for capitulation also. This after he bragged that he voted to keep the government open at the mere cost of delaying the ACA for a year and repealing the medical device tax. He didn't see how either of these conditions were too much to ask for declining to blow up the government.

    Rachel Maddow has a list of what the Republicans wanted to get out of shutting down the government. These included:

    Repealing the ACA.

    Defunding the ACA.

    Delay the implementation of the ACA

    Delay the individual mandates in the ACA.

    Deny health insurance coverage to the President and Vice-president.

    Modify the health insurance coverage of Congressional staffers.

    Modify the health insurance coverage of the Cabinet.

    Remove birth control from coverage by the ACA.

    Open the Keystone pipeline.

    Means test Medicare.

    Modify the pensions of federal employees.

    Expanded oil drilling on federal land.

    Repeal the polution laws for new coal fired electric plants.

    Implement Paul Ryan's tax code changes.

    Repeal coal ash regulations.

    Repeal medical device tax.

    Remove the Treasury's ability to move money around, thereby making the next government shutdown worse.

    I'm not at all sanguine about this not happening again. The Tea Baggers are not about normal (liberal bias) reality. They've got their own, ideal, Dickensian world. They'll have plenty of time between now and Feburary 15 to come up with a whole new list of things that will:

    Damage job creation.

    Damage the environment.

    Damage the standing of the United States.

    Make sure every 12 year old has a M-16 with the new belt feed clip.

    etc.

    The aim of the Tea baggers is to make the United States look like India, or perhaps Bangladesh.

    2. I see your point, especially in light of Jeff Sharlet's excelent books. Still, I have problems seeing Gary North pulling Paul Ryan's strings. I think the current batch of Teahadists look a lot more like the KKK or, more directly, the John Birch Society. There have always been nativiest and dominionist strains running through our society (Know Nothing Party). They far predate the current Rushdoony and North incarnations. Not that they aren't dangerous, it's just that complicity between them and the current Republican party smells a bit like a conspiracy that only a truther could believe in.

      Where they seem to be meeting, however, is Ted Cruz becoming the Elmer Gantry of the Dominionists as well as holding a place in government.

      http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/ted-cruz-grifter-who-believes-divine-wealth#sthash.Tg3XmDzr.dpbs

      After this, his influence may wane. After all, even Peter King sees through the guy. But if the head of the Republican party (Rush Limbaugh) can spin this into "It's all caused by the Demon-crat(s)" then Ted Cruz may well end up as the presidential nominee.

      It was refreshing, and about time, to see Obama finally stand up to the Teahadists. Based on his previous behavior it was rational for the Republicans to believe he would fold on at least some issue. I just can't believe that it took him this long to see that the only issue the Republicans care about is to see his presidency and this nation fail.

      It's only good politics.

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