Monday, January 22, 2018

So, the shutdown has shut down. Next?

Image via fivethirtyeight.

I don't know. I'd appreciate if people didn't say "Democrats caved". I've been running around saying for three days that it's not the Democrats' shutdown. If we didn't do it, then it stands to reason we didn't give up on it.
Here's the Republican messaging: WE RULE! OUR DADDY IS THE BIGGEST!



Our message should be we don't need a daddy. We're old enough to take care of ourselves.

Imma keep saying it was Trump's ("our country needs a good shutdown", 2 May 2017; "Now the obstructionist Democrats would like us not to do it, but believe me, if we have to close down our government, we're building that wall," 24 August 2017, "President Donald Trump has told confidants that a government shutdown could be good for him politically and is focusing on his hard-line immigration stance as a way to win back supporters," 30 November 2017) and the Republican Party's. In spite of all the efforts made by Donald Jr. and his Russian friends to brand it the other way.

Ergo, they are the ones who climbed down. They saw where the polls were going, they dropped all the immigration issue on both sides for the time being,

I'm not saying it's a good deal, though we succeeded in getting health insurance for nine million lower-income children and demonstrating that the Republicans don't care about that at all but are willing to use them as a human shield in their quest for dominance, or bargaining CHIP if you'll excuse me. I realize that's a hard argument to make to people like the politics writers at the New York Times, but it's an easy one for, to name just one cogent example, most women voters. They kept saying they supported CHIP, Orrin Hatch as I was saying just about wept on the Senate floor over how deeply attached to it he was, but when they had a chance to use it as extortion bait, they went for it.

I realize the only real difference between this bill and the one we were so proud of voting down on Friday is that this one is going to have to be replaced a week earlier, three weeks instead of four, and a little more deficit pumping with delayed Obamacare taxes (but not Obamacare spending). And McConnell's solemn promise to the Democrats (Friday's bill passed in the House on the strength of secret promises from Paul Ryan to the Freedom Caucus).

Everybody seems to be taking it as a given that there will be no DACA renewal or Dream Act, and that McConnell will renege on his promise, and I have to admit he's probably the most dishonorable person in the entire Congress, which is saying something. But our chances of getting it are at the very least no worse now than they were, and I don't see why they're not even a little better, as we've shown some strength. And Tammy Baldwin and Sherrod Brown voted for it. And Rand Paul and Mike Lee against. This phase is over and the next one is starting, and nobody said we had to give up.

Also,
They made Trump shut up. For now.

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