Shutdown watch

[Fau Teixeira]

I don't see how this is not political blackmail on the part of the republicans.

The democrats wanted a CR passed with a certain $ amount attached to it.
the republicans wanted a lower $ attached to it.

So the democrats compromised and we have the lower $ amount CR being proposed. That's already a compromise. Now the GOP tosses in some unrealistic terroristic demands.

I don't see the difference between what the GOP is doing now and a terrorist group holding a country hostage against the will of the properly elected majority.

If this wasn't washington, these people would be getting droned right now.

[Cathal]

Your friend is stupid.

Why is that stupid? If you totally shut down the government why should any of them retain their jobs?

[Fau Teixeira]

Why is that stupid? If you totally shut down the government why should any of them retain their jobs?

because we live in a nation of laws not of half assed pseudo-anarchy
becuase we don't live in the land of knee-jerk which is where tommy comes from

If you want to remove an elected official, they can be impeached. We have a system to do that already.
If that doesn't work then the people they represent can vote against them in the next election. Of course after the great gerrymandering scandal of 2010, 80-90 republicans have nothing to fear from their districts.

[Cathal]

^^^ In which case firing everyone would be the best solution if they have nothing to fear from their districts. I admit, I don't pay attention to politics but seeing such low approval ratings of what, under 20%, Congress and the government costing this country millions per day, and they can't agree over anything, why not fire everyone? Seems reasonable to me. Gotta give them something to fear.

[el diablo]

A friend of mine made a pretty good suggestion.  He said that from now on, if there is a government shutdown of any kind, all sitting members of Congress and the President should automatically be deemed ineligible for re-election.  You can't do your job, you lose it.  Plain and simple.

And this is why your friend can't be in Washington. They are actually making sense. How does your friend feel about term limits?

[Landshark]

And this is why your friend can't be in Washington. They are actually making sense. How does your friend feel about term limits?

He and I both agree that there should be term limits for Congress just like there is for the President.  The Founding Fathers envisioned serving in Congress to be a temporary thing for citizens, not a permanent one.

[pondwater]

So Obama gets to decide which parts of the law he wants to implement in order to fool the American people until after the midterm elections? If you're going to delay the employer mandate, why not the individual mandate also? No, the shutdown has nothing to do with obamacare, the gop, or the continuing resolution. It has everything to do with the democrats documented refusal to negotiate. Obama's shady talents are more suited to plaid suits and selling used cars. Case in point.

The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure ... I therefore intend to oppose the effort to increase America’s debt limit.

Nothing but a greedy lying two faced POS. Hope and change my ass, BUCK OFAMA!

[CF DolFan]

A friend of mine made a pretty good suggestion.  He said that from now on, if there is a government shutdown of any kind, all sitting members of Congress and the President should automatically be deemed ineligible for re-election.  You can't do your job, you lose it.  Plain and simple.

In my world budgets have a time limit and there has to be a resolution regardless. I don't know why government should not have the same type of deadline and yes ... people hold others hostage to get what they want right up until the end. It's called politics for a reason.

Democrats seem to be dancing on the fact they can blame Republicans for the shutdown and were doing so weeks ahead of time instead of negotiating with them. I don't think that's a smart move on their part. First off, if Republicans are already being blamed, and they are, they have no incentive to give in to anything until they get what they want. The damage has been done. Some Republicans are freaked by this but most are not as it only solidifies their conservative stance.

Secondly the longer it goes on the more people are realizing that less government is needed. That fits solely into the Republican ideals.

[Fau Teixeira]

people are blaming republicans because they are to blame.

They aren't asking for negotiation .. they are holding the country hostage and demanding permanent changes to a law they can't change through the normal process in order to turn the federal government back on.

All the GOP needed to do to kill obamacare was to win an election .. the vast majority of voters when faced with the option. voted FOR obamacare. so now the GOP is butthurt and is trying to undermine the will of the majority by playing games with people's lives.

There is nothing to negotiate. Pass the CR. if you want to change obamacare, pass a new bill changing obamacare.
When you lose an election, you don't get to dictate terms.

good job american taliban .. good job.

[CF DolFan]

people are blaming republicans because they are to blame.

They aren't asking for negotiation .. they are holding the country hostage and demanding permanent changes to a law they can't change through the normal process in order to turn the federal government back on.

All the GOP needed to do to kill obamacare was to win an election .. the vast majority of voters when faced with the option. voted FOR obamacare. so now the GOP is butthurt and is trying to undermine the will of the majority by playing games with people's lives.

There is nothing to negotiate. Pass the CR. if you want to change obamacare, pass a new bill changing obamacare.
When you lose an election, you don't get to dictate terms.

good job american taliban .. good job.

If it was only that clear cut.

[Landshark]

because we live in a nation of laws not of half assed pseudo-anarchy

How is it "half assed pseudo anarchy" if you want to remove an official for poor job performance?

If you want to remove an elected official, they can be impeached. We have a system to do that already.  If that doesn't work then the people they represent can vote against them in the next election.

You can only impeach an official if they are guilty of a crime, not because they are doing a bad job.  As for voting against them in the next election, that's where my buddy's logic falls into, that they can't be re-elected.

[Fau Teixeira]

You can only impeach an official if they are guilty of a crime.

Now who's being naive Kay.

[mboss]

You can only impeach an official if they are guilty of a crime, not because they are doing a bad job.  As for voting against them in the next election, that's where my buddy's logic falls into, that they can't be re-elected.

Rather than they can't be re-elected something more reasonable would be a number of term limits. Right now guys get re-elected based on name recognition from being in the district for years and years. If a 2-3x term limit were to be put in place it would resolve this issue over time.

[mboss]

So Obama gets to decide which parts of the law he wants to implement in order to fool the American people until after the midterm elections? If you're going to delay the employer mandate, why not the individual mandate also? No, the shutdown has nothing to do with obamacare, the gop, or the continuing resolution. It has everything to do with the democrats documented refusal to negotiate. Obama's shady talents are more suited to plaid suits and selling used cars. Case in point.



Nothing but a greedy lying two faced POS. Hope and change my ass, BUCK OFAMA!

Keep watching Fox News and telling yourself that......just your irrational name calling and digs at Obama show that you can't even look at this somewhat objectively. The ACA has been debated, passed into law and vetted as constitutional by the supreme court(which leans conservative right now). It is the law of the land....and just like any law can be modified to make it better, but lets not pretend that these Republicans just want to delay the mandate for a year. They are trying to buy time so they can repeal it or completely de-fund it(which they started out in this process trying to do) before the people find out that it is not the end of the world....or gasp!! They may like it.

As somebody else stated before this would be like the Democrats shutting the Government down until an assault weapons ban goes into place....and I would hazard to guess that even people that would want the ban would not approve of that tactic. Why?  Because it is not being responsible. You don't shut down the Government or mess with the Debt limit as a negotiating ploy because it ultimately makes the whole country worse off.

[Phishfan]

Secondly the longer it goes on the more people are realizing that less government is needed. That fits solely into the Republican ideals.

I don't know about that CF. Vets are upset they cannot visit monuments, no new applications for Social Security, no new applications for passports, delays in pay to the military and FAA, etc. I think the longer this goes on the public is going to become outraged.