Friday was a low point in what Fox News calls its “All Star Panel” on Special Report, as they discussed the House vote on funding all of the government except Obamacare. The Inside the Beltway crowd simply doesn’t have any appreciation for the disconnect between we the people and our government. And to illustrate that I wanted to point to inane comments by panelists Charles Krauthammer (a media conservative) and Charles Lane (a liberal).
I understand that Charles Krauthammer is a very intelligent man. But he has a blind spot on this issue, and I think it’s from being immersed in the Washington D.C. media culture. He fears the consequences for Republicans if they stand up to Obama, and that if Obama shuts down the government over this Obamacare funding issue, the Republicans will be blamed. Friday he said that they would end up filleted like sushi. He keeps going back to the 1995 budget battle between the House of Representatives, led by Newt Gingrich, and President Clinton. Yes, the Republicans were filleted in the media, but they were victorious in the ensuing congressional elections of 1996. So my advice to Charles is to get out of the media bubble and get in touch with the people.
And Charles Lane, the Liberal on the panel, is guilty of the same blindness. It was almost laughable when he tried to advise the Republicans. A recent Wall Street Journal poll shows the popularity of Republicans is rising, and he actually felt that this move by Republicans to defund Obamacare was poorly timed and would now hurt their rising popularity. Duh! Do you suppose, Mr. Lane, that the rising popularity might actually be connected to their willingness to stand up and fight? We out here in the country hate Obamacare. If House Republicans stand their ground, their popularity will soar.
Get outside your media bubble, outside the beltway. This is a winning issue. We people are getting disgusted with our government. Republicans are disgusted with their leadership when they don’t stand and fight. We are also getting more fearful of the government. Let it be shut down. The pressure will be on Democrat senators in red states to, at a minimum, delay the implementation of Obamacare. And we have learned that Obama’s red lines can be crossed.
Now I don’t want to give the illusion here that I trust Boehner to stand firm on this. The man in so many of his actions seems corrupt and has never stood firm on anything that angered Democrats. But his speakership may be in jeopardy over this issue, and if he can be made to see that, he may just hold tight here. For an idea of what I think of the Speaker, read my post here about an idea I had earlier this year about how to get rid of John Boehner.
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