David Weigel
By David Weigel
For the men and women of the US Senate, Wednesday morning was a time of jubilation. Hark — a deal was born! Senators Harry Reid, D-Nev, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., came bearing a bipartisan agreement that punted the debt and government funding deadlines with a minimal amount of riders. “Political adversaries set aside their differences and disagreement,” said Majority Leader Reid. “I think we have the framework for the kind of bipartisanship that the American people need and want,” said Sen John McCain, R-Ariz, McCain, who’d logged hours of TV interviews blaming the House Republicans for the shutdown, was closing the book on the whole mess.
At the same time, far away from the sound of handshakes and backslaps, the House Oversight Committee was conducting an investigation into the real culprit of the shutdown. Jonathan Jarvis, Director of the National Park Service, had been subpoenaed in an investigation of why beloved open-air parks and memorials — the Second World War Memorial, especially — were barricaded during the shutdown. Why, asked Rep Darrell Issa, R-California, did an anonymous park ranger tell the Washington Times that the feds would make the shutdown “as difficult as possible”? Why did parks stay open for Occupy Wall Street but closed to the men who stormed Omaha Beach?
Within hours, Gowdy and Issa would join their fellow House Republicans for a short meeting. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, would admit defeat. But some Republicans were declaring a victory of sorts — maybe not now, but down the road — for what the media had already judged to be a historic debacle. They had revealed President Barack Obama to be a cynical political operator. They had proved to voters that they did everything they could to stop the Affordable Care Act. When the next spending fight comes around, they insisted that enduring this shutdown would strengthen their position.
Even outside the Chick-fil-A chamber, Republicans were full of reasons why the shutdown hadn’t hurt. Rep. David Schweikert, R-Arix, tore into one reporter’s question about the “polls” showing the GOP’s reputation falling. “Did you look at the samples?” asked Schweikert. After the reporter slumped away, Schweikert told me that the media’s polls missed the target.
Does this mean that Republicans would enter into another shutdown standoff with no fear? That’s not how they look at it. They view any attempt to blame them for the shutdown, and not the president, as media bias in concentrate. This shutdown proved them right, and they’ll carry that knowledge into the budget battle.
“I think this exposed the president and made clear to the public that he’s unwilling to compromise,” said Rep Justin Amash, R-Mich. “There’s going to be a lot of focus over the next few months about the failures of Obamacare. It’ll help Republicans because we stood up and fought — and there’s nobody who can blame Republicans, at this point, for Obamacare. We did what we could.” WP-BLOOMBERG
By David Weigel
For the men and women of the US Senate, Wednesday morning was a time of jubilation. Hark — a deal was born! Senators Harry Reid, D-Nev, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., came bearing a bipartisan agreement that punted the debt and government funding deadlines with a minimal amount of riders. “Political adversaries set aside their differences and disagreement,” said Majority Leader Reid. “I think we have the framework for the kind of bipartisanship that the American people need and want,” said Sen John McCain, R-Ariz, McCain, who’d logged hours of TV interviews blaming the House Republicans for the shutdown, was closing the book on the whole mess.
At the same time, far away from the sound of handshakes and backslaps, the House Oversight Committee was conducting an investigation into the real culprit of the shutdown. Jonathan Jarvis, Director of the National Park Service, had been subpoenaed in an investigation of why beloved open-air parks and memorials — the Second World War Memorial, especially — were barricaded during the shutdown. Why, asked Rep Darrell Issa, R-California, did an anonymous park ranger tell the Washington Times that the feds would make the shutdown “as difficult as possible”? Why did parks stay open for Occupy Wall Street but closed to the men who stormed Omaha Beach?
Within hours, Gowdy and Issa would join their fellow House Republicans for a short meeting. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, would admit defeat. But some Republicans were declaring a victory of sorts — maybe not now, but down the road — for what the media had already judged to be a historic debacle. They had revealed President Barack Obama to be a cynical political operator. They had proved to voters that they did everything they could to stop the Affordable Care Act. When the next spending fight comes around, they insisted that enduring this shutdown would strengthen their position.
Even outside the Chick-fil-A chamber, Republicans were full of reasons why the shutdown hadn’t hurt. Rep. David Schweikert, R-Arix, tore into one reporter’s question about the “polls” showing the GOP’s reputation falling. “Did you look at the samples?” asked Schweikert. After the reporter slumped away, Schweikert told me that the media’s polls missed the target.
Does this mean that Republicans would enter into another shutdown standoff with no fear? That’s not how they look at it. They view any attempt to blame them for the shutdown, and not the president, as media bias in concentrate. This shutdown proved them right, and they’ll carry that knowledge into the budget battle.
“I think this exposed the president and made clear to the public that he’s unwilling to compromise,” said Rep Justin Amash, R-Mich. “There’s going to be a lot of focus over the next few months about the failures of Obamacare. It’ll help Republicans because we stood up and fought — and there’s nobody who can blame Republicans, at this point, for Obamacare. We did what we could.” WP-BLOOMBERG
