Shutdowns always backfire, espcially for GOP

[kadee79]

Yes, it's opinion...but it's a slow news day so far.

President Trump and House Republicans have shut down part of the government in hopes of forcing Senate Democrats to accept $5 billion in border wall funding. 
This mistake will almost surely backfire on the GOP. 
I say this not as a gleeful liberal, but rather as a conservative federal budget economist who has spent the past 17 years in the Washington DC trenches fighting for spending restraint. 
This is the fourth significant government shutdown in 25 years. During the three previous shutdowns, the party that held government funding legislation hostage to additional demands experienced a nasty public backlash that inevitably led to a humiliating surrender. 
Despite those past failures, Republican voters support the current shutdown by a 2-to-1 margin. As in past shutdowns, many conservatives—egged on by talk radio and aggressive television personalities—hope that shutting down much of the government can force Democratic lawmakers to capitulate to their ends. 
Instead, shutdowns backfire for four reasons:

www.thedailybeast.com/shutdowns-always-backfireespecially-on-republicans

[Tiny]

IDK, the intentional shutdown of the government for a party to "get it's way" - always kinda struck me as, well, villainous. It any good/bad story the Villain holds innocents hostage and threatens to torture them unless some demand is met.

The Government shut down sure looks an awful lot like that: Give me X, or I will make these hundred of thousands of people (who have no control over this or a say in the matter) SUFFER!

How is this strategy considered "good" or "useful"?

Not to mention clearly indicating that anyone who works for the government (or needs government services) is nothing more than a pawn for politicians to play with.


I get that "shut downs" or "strikes" are useful and powerful. But generally such things are done to benefit a large number of people (all union workers) AND future people. It's not done to give a small group the benefit of getting a pet project done.

[Shooby]

Nice to finally see a Repo with a backbone.

[tallguy]

And nice to see that some people are unencumbered by the weight of rational thought.

[travelingdeb]

Thank goodness my agency is funded, but the other agencies in my building are not funded for this shutdown. All the other employees had to report this morning to sign the shutdown paperwork, and let me tell you, none of them left thrilled that they were getting this paid holiday. They were mostly upset and pissed.... We want to show up for work, we want to know when our paychecks will be coming and we have absolutely no say in the matter. And no employees that I know, support the wall, at the expense of their job security....

[djAdvocate]

Dec 26, 2018 13:40:04 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Nice to finally see a Repo with a backbone.

well, nobody will argue with the fact that he is no politician, again.

this is maybe the dumbest political move ever.

[andi9899]

Dec 26, 2018 13:40:04 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Nice to finally see a Repo with a backbone.

Now if he just had a brain...

[dondub]

Now if he just had a strait jacket...

[weltschmerz]

Dec 26, 2018 13:40:04 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Nice to finally see a Repo with a backbone.

The backbone that kept him out of Vietnam? That backbone?

[Shooby]

The longer the govt shuts down, the more people will see how little they really do. Just leave it shut till Ocasio Cortez comes in. I am sure she will have all the answers

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

Dec 26, 2018 15:22:49 GMT -5 andi9899 said:

Dec 26, 2018 13:40:04 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Nice to finally see a Repo with a backbone.

Now if he just had a brain...

[dondub]

The longer the govt shuts down, the more people will see how little they really do.

There are many working without pay during this holiday season. Glad to see you have the Christmas spirit.

Now if only Trump would quit working.

[Shooby]

Dec 26, 2018 15:29:16 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Dec 26, 2018 13:40:04 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Nice to finally see a Repo with a backbone.

The backbone that kept him out of Vietnam? That backbone?

Oh gee did Bill and Obama served? Guess i missed that.

[Shooby]

Dec 26, 2018 15:39:16 GMT -5 dondub said:

The longer the govt shuts down, the more people will see how little they really do.

There are many working without pay during this holiday season. Glad to see you have the Christmas spirit.

Now if only Trump would quit working.

Fine. Dems can give Trump the $5b and those workers can get their checks. Oh guess Dems dont care about them either.

[oped]

The senate passed a CR that would have passed the house. Next week it might even pass with a veto proof majority... since trump prefers a shutdown, we can wait and see.

Trump could start spending the border security money he hit in the last round... that has pretty much gone unspent as I understand it.

[ken a.k.a OMK]

Oh gee did Bill and Obama served? Guess i missed that.

His father got him a medical deferment by giving favors to a doctor. Fake. Rich boy didn't have to serve. Oh he served his Viet Nam by not getting a STD in the 60's.    He was found fit after college graduation and the big 1968 call up so his father got him off.

Clinton still had a school deferment in 1968.

Obama graduated years after the draft (1979).

[NomoreDramaQ1015]

So shut down during Obama = frothing at the mouth anger, how dare he act so partisan and not work with republicans to avoid a shut down!

Shut down during Trump = Hooray!  Somebody has balls!  Good for him for not cooperating with those dirty dems!

[ken a.k.a OMK]

(Sarcasm) This is my 3rd in a year. Watch out Dems this is how I govern. From the gut and Hannity. MAGA. By 2020 I will own the USA.

[Tennesseer]

Dec 26, 2018 14:42:17 GMT -5 travelingdeb said:

Thank goodness my agency is funded, but the other agencies in my building are not funded for this shutdown. All the other employees had to report this morning to sign the shutdown paperwork, and let me tell you, none of them left thrilled that they were getting this paid holiday. They were mostly upset and pissed.... We want to show up for work, we want to know when our paychecks will be coming and we have absolutely no say in the matter. And no employees that I know, support the wall, at the expense of their job security....

The other agencies' employees in your building clearly did not get the memo!

President Donald Trump said that federal workers furloughed in a partial government shutdown support his effort to force Democrats to vote to spend billions of dollars for a wall on the Mexican border.

“They understand what’s happening. They want border security,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday, after he was asked what message he had for workers affected by the shutdown.

Trump Says Out-of-Work Federal Employees Want Border Wall

[weltschmerz]

Dec 26, 2018 16:09:29 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Dec 26, 2018 15:29:16 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

The backbone that kept him out of Vietnam? That backbone?

Oh gee did Bill and Obama served? Guess i missed that.

Obama was twelve years old when the draft ended.

[Tennesseer]

Dec 26, 2018 15:32:29 GMT -5 Shooby said:

The longer the govt shuts down, the more people will see how little they really do. Just leave it shut till Ocasio Cortez comes in. I am sure she will have all the answers

Ocasio Cortez cannot do any worse than trump.

[dondub]

Obama~Vietnam. What a reveal that was! 

[Shooby]

Dec 26, 2018 16:42:28 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Dec 26, 2018 16:09:29 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Oh gee did Bill and Obama served? Guess i missed that.

Obama was twelve years old when the draft ended.

No kidding. And why didnt he serve anyway?

[djAdvocate]

Dec 26, 2018 16:45:24 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Dec 26, 2018 16:42:28 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Obama was twelve years old when the draft ended.

No kidding. And why didnt he serve anyway?

same reason i didn't.  no need, better opportunities.

and in my case, i don't follow orders well.  don't know about him.

[ken a.k.a OMK]

Will this satisfy you? After the draft and plenty of volunteers many decided to start their career if they weren't interested in a military one.

Barack Obama has said he considered joining the United States military when he left school but decided not to because the Vietnam war was over and "we weren't engaged in an active military conflict at that point".

[tbop77]

Dec 26, 2018 13:40:04 GMT -5 Shooby said:

Nice to finally see a Repo with a backbone.

Why don't they stand up and ask why Mexico isn't paying for the wall?  Isn't that what he promised all during his campaign?  

[Tennesseer]

Dec 26, 2018 16:47:40 GMT -5 djAdvocate said:

Dec 26, 2018 16:45:24 GMT -5 Shooby said:

No kidding. And why didnt he serve anyway?

same reason i didn't.  no need, better opportunities.

and in my case, i don't follow orders well.  don't know about him.

I have an older friend who had a problem with following orders too. She lasted all of 30 days in a religious life as a nun. She knew she would have no problem with the vows of poverty and chastity but quickly found out the vow of obedience was problematic.

[ken a.k.a OMK]

If it weren't for the draft I wouldn't have enlisted. 1968 was a blood bath in Nam. I wasn't interested in the military life. I did 26 years active/reserve because I was able to use my electrical engineering knowledge instead of carrying a rifle through rice patties. God bless those who did. 

[ken a.k.a OMK]

Hey Shooby did you, your husband or any of your children serve? Maybe you should rethink your argument.

[Shooby]

Dec 26, 2018 16:57:12 GMT -5 ken a.k.a OMK said:

Hey Shooby did you, your husband or any of your children serve? Maybe you should rethink your argument.

Yes