{"id":39029,"date":"2013-10-15T12:00:16","date_gmt":"2013-10-15T17:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=39029"},"modified":"2014-12-12T14:50:08","modified_gmt":"2014-12-12T20:50:08","slug":"the-shutdown-cage-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=39029","title":{"rendered":"The “Shutdown” Cage Match"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the one hand, Jennifer Rubin at the WaPo points out 15 signs shutdown fans have “drunk the koolaid<\/a>“:<\/p>\n

There has been, to put it mildly, some mass self-delusion going on in right-wing circles. Here\u2019s how to tell if you are suffering from the ill-effects of the echo chamber.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

On the other hand?\u00a0 Steven Hayward atPower Lineis a convert:<\/p>\n

First of all, like the sequester, have the majority of Americans noticed its effects beyond what the media has been screaming about?\u00a0 The bullying tactics of forcibly shutting off public spaces like the World War II memorial on the mall has surely inflicted damage on Obama that, had he behaved with minimal restraint, he might have been spared.<\/p>\n

Beyond this, have there been riots or even public demonstrations against the shutdown?\u00a0 The political-financial crises in Europe and elsewhere in recent years have seen mass protests and street riots (Spain, Brazil, Greece, Bulgaria, etc).\u00a0 Where is Occupy Wall Street when Obama needs them?\u00a0 To the contrary, much more of the political energy appears to be on the Tea Party side right now.\u00a0 Pretty clearly the shutdown terrifies liberals and journalists\u2014and that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course, it might be pointed out that this is a faux-shutdown<\/a><\/em>: 80 percent of the government is up and running.\u00a0 This is analogous to TSA airport security: it is shutdown theater<\/a> rather than the real thing.\u00a0 Stop sending Social Security checks and see what happens.<\/p>\n

A fair point, but this leads to the next big question: which party most needs the government to be up and running?\u00a0 Ask yourself which party is the party of government and you\u2019ll know the answer.\u00a0 With 90 percent of the EPA furloughed, what\u2019s the downside here for Republicans?<\/p>\n

More seriously, to the extent that shutdown and \u201cgovernment dysfunction\u201d in Washington causes the public to hold Washington in even greater disgust than usual, who does this hurt the most?\u00a0 Democrats need<\/em> the public to have some degree of confidence in government for their expansive schemes to succeed.\u00a0 Which brings me to the latest soundings on public opinion that Karlyn Bowman and Andrew Rugg have put together<\/a> and displayed in the charts below.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bottom line: public confidence in Washington D.C. is at lows not seen since the 1970s.\u00a0 (And we know what happened at the end of that decade.)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The takeaway?\u00a0 I think a competent GOP leadership could make this into a net win in 2014 for the GOP.<\/p>\n

Which means we’re screwed.<\/p>\n

But for the Tea Party, anyway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the one hand, Jennifer Rubin at the WaPo points out 15 signs shutdown fans have “drunk the koolaid“: There has been, to put it mildly, some mass self-delusion going on in right-wing circles. Here\u2019s how to tell if you are suffering from the ill-effects of the echo chamber. On the other hand?\u00a0 Steven Hayward […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[327,16],"tags":[266,242],"class_list":["post-39029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-activism","category-conservatism","tag-shutdownpocalypse-2013","tag-tea-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=39029"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49774,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39029\/revisions\/49774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=39029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=39029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=39029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}