Naming Names: Foreign Press blames Michele Bachmann Tea Party, and GOP for shut down!

cross-posted from MN Political Roundtable

In hot water!
(image courtesy
http://mariopiperni.com)

- See more at: http://mnpoliticalroundtable.com/2013/10/10/foreign-press-blames-michele-bachmann-by-name-for-tea-party-responsibility-shutting-down-the-federal-government/#sthash.ACxyUTTV.dpuf

In hot water!
(image courtesy
http://mariopiperni.com)

- See more at: http://mnpoliticalroundtable.com/2013/10/10/foreign-press-blames-michele-bachmann-by-name-for-tea-party-responsibility-shutting-down-the-federal-government/#sthash.ACxyUTTV.dpuf

Bachmann, GOP in 'hot water' - image via mariopiperni.com

http://mariopiperni.com#sthash.ACxyUTTV.dpuf

Foreign press blames Michele Bachmann, Tea Party for shutting down the federal government 

The foreign media has been pretty straight-forward about citing the Tea Party as the caucus behind the Republican shut-down of the federal government, noting their obsession to defund Obamacare as their motivation.

Republicans can try to blame Obama and the Democrats for the shut down, but polls show that they are being held responsible, and receiving a big jump in disapproval ratings as a result. Clearly, the international news media sees the shutdown as originating with the right as well. No one, except those paid to do so, like the talking heads over at Faux News, seem to be buying into the blame-the-Dems game. The chronic GOP/Tea Party reality denial is failing.

The CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company), the equivalent to the prestigious BBC in the UK over our northern border, was much more specific, including naming Michele Bachmann among those most responsible for the shutdown:

U.S. government shutdown stokes Republican party civil war
House Speaker John Boehner working to fight off Tea Party advances

A party takeover

As it turned out, the Tea Party wasn’t much of a threat to anyone during the 2012 elections. Boehner returned as Speaker, got muscular and stripped some dissidents of committee positions. The Tea Party caucus in Congress actually shrank, and even went dormant for several months.

But under the implacable guidance of Rep. Michele Bachmann, they re-formed, more hardcore than ever, and with deep-pocketed outside help, staged a party takeover.

(my emphasis added – DG)

House Speaker John Boehner has been criticized
for compromising with Democrats and for being unable
to hold back tears at emotional public moments.
(Manuel Balce Ceneta/The Associated Press)

Their power is the absolute power to obstruct. There are more than 40 of them in the House, and together, they can deny Boehner the 218 votes necessary to accomplish anything in the 435-seat chamber.

They’ve humiliated their Speaker repeatedly, forcing him to abandon compromise positions and withdraw legislation he’d introduced. They’ve questioned his conservatism, and called him “petty and vindictive.”

And now, having brushed Boehner aside, they’ve cut off government funding because President Obama won’t eviscerate his Affordable Care Act – Obamacare – which has been the law of the land for nearly four years.

Boehner, thoroughly whipped, has fallen into line.

With nearly a million public servants effectively laid off, he now travels, often alone, from one microphone to the next, declaring that House Republicans have actually worked to keep government open and that it was Obama and the Democrats who orchestrated the shutdown.

Cracking in plain sight

It’s a ridiculous claim, and Boehner looks undignified and diminished making it.

The party’s establishment regards all this as appallingly stupid politics. And now, the Republican congressional caucus is cracking in plain sight.

Its non-Tea-Party majority, for years terrified into silence by Tea Party threats in their home districts, can still read a poll. And polls say most Americans think it’s wrong to shut down the government, lunacy to force a default on America’s debts.

News websites are now tallying the number of Republicans who have stated they would join with the 200 House Democrats and reopen the government, no strings attached.

On Thursday, the Washington Post had 19 Republicans ready to vote yes and four leaning towards yes. The Huffington Post had 20 in the yes column.