Republicans enter the danger zone
By Greg Sargent, WashPost, Updated: October 1, 2013
So House Republicans are allowing the government to shut down, rather than permit a vote on continued funding of the government at sequester levels, which alone would (in a sane universe) have been a real victory for them. This puts Republicans in precisely the same position they were in before they caved to conservative demands and launched a series of anti-Obamacare votes that have proven futile. Remember, Congress will vote to fund the government soon enough. Dems are not going to meaningfully undermine Obamacare, which means John Boehner will have to figure out a way, very soon, of allowing a vote on funding for the government, untethered from the health law, even if it means making the Tea Party very, very angry.
How long Boehner is willing to postpone this will be partly influenced by how much damage the GOP is sustaining, as judged by influential party insiders. And on that score, today’s new Quinnipiac poll should set off alarm bells.
It finds that 58 percent of Americans, including 58 percent of independents, oppose Congress defunding Obamacare. Seventy two percent, and 74 percent of independents, oppose shutting down major activities of the government to stop the health law. On the debt limit, 64 percent oppose not raising it to block the law. All of this is in spite of plurality disapproval of Obamacare. Dems have opened a nine point lead in the generic House matchup, 43-34. Underlying structural factors mean even a wide lead probably won’t dislodge the GOP majority. But as Steven Shepard rightly notes, a shutdown could make things “volatile.”
Beyond this, though, the poll also sheds light on how Americans view the values and intentions of the major actors in this drama — which arguably could have real influence on how they view the situation over time. Here the poll is grim for the GOP.
(More here.)
So House Republicans are allowing the government to shut down, rather than permit a vote on continued funding of the government at sequester levels, which alone would (in a sane universe) have been a real victory for them. This puts Republicans in precisely the same position they were in before they caved to conservative demands and launched a series of anti-Obamacare votes that have proven futile. Remember, Congress will vote to fund the government soon enough. Dems are not going to meaningfully undermine Obamacare, which means John Boehner will have to figure out a way, very soon, of allowing a vote on funding for the government, untethered from the health law, even if it means making the Tea Party very, very angry.
How long Boehner is willing to postpone this will be partly influenced by how much damage the GOP is sustaining, as judged by influential party insiders. And on that score, today’s new Quinnipiac poll should set off alarm bells.
It finds that 58 percent of Americans, including 58 percent of independents, oppose Congress defunding Obamacare. Seventy two percent, and 74 percent of independents, oppose shutting down major activities of the government to stop the health law. On the debt limit, 64 percent oppose not raising it to block the law. All of this is in spite of plurality disapproval of Obamacare. Dems have opened a nine point lead in the generic House matchup, 43-34. Underlying structural factors mean even a wide lead probably won’t dislodge the GOP majority. But as Steven Shepard rightly notes, a shutdown could make things “volatile.”
Beyond this, though, the poll also sheds light on how Americans view the values and intentions of the major actors in this drama — which arguably could have real influence on how they view the situation over time. Here the poll is grim for the GOP.
(More here.)
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