The Super Awesome Government Shutdown Blame Game Has Begun

Well all right then. The government shutdown happened. While some Republicans were calling this  "dance" something to "compromise" and "negotiate" into giving them exactly everything they ever wanted ever, and Democrats were "refusing to be extorted," the clock instead struck midnight and everyone just went home, probably because they had finally run through all theliquor. So now certain "nonessential" departments and federal employees have been told today that their services will not be required for a while, even though these employees probably think that still getting paid somehow is. But this is when the "fun" starts, people, because nothing is more important when governmental departments are shut down and people are not getting paid than to fight aboutwhose fault it is. And oh yeah, we are gonna fight about it. The time has come to rage. 

 WaPo gives us the ringside view:

President Obama argued that Republicans were to blame, for using a budget bill as a means of extortion to roll back health-care reform. No, the GOP shot back, it was Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) who were responsible, for refusing to negotiate.

The heated back-and-forth reflected a recognition by both sides of the importance of winning the messaging war after the first government shutdown in 17 years. This is not just a typical partisan spat -- the outcome could determine which party has momentum heading into coming fights over issues such as the debt ceiling and immigration law, as well as next year’s congressional elections.

Wait, this is all a messaging war? Well that is certainly good for all the people not going to work and the work not being done. They can just stay home, get drunk like a member of Congress who is still getting paid, and let all that messaging not pay their bills. We know how mortgage companies love that shit. Because if the House GOP can't bullshit their way into stopping some terrible no good Obamacare that was signed into law three years ago, that they could not stop more than 40 times with votes! , in a lawsuit in the Supreme Court, or now through a fight over a nothing-to-do-with-Obamacare budget bill, then they aren't gonna be paying no bills either.

So now to figure out who this shutdown will really hurt the most. And, no, not the people with no jobs now, or Americans wanting to avail themselves of services that the departments that were shut down operate, or America in general because we have gotten to a place where we can't get jackshit done. But the important people. You know, the elected officials who did all of this.

And it may be hyper-lib, biasy, wishful over-think on our tingly parts, but it appears that the greatest kicks in the tangerines are coming at House Speaker John Boehner, with even some Republicans, like New York Rep. Peter King doing some of the kicking, and calling some of his party people "crazies." Do not make us love you today Peter King! Politico also has a roundup of other Republicans freaking out and calling this whole thing "not smart" and that it will be seen as all the Republicans' fault. Democrats are also getting down and dirty, threatening to leak some email correspondence between Boehner's chief of staff and Harry Reid over what the Orange One really thought about those Obamacare subsidies to congressional staff members -- and it doesn't sound like he was fightin' for their freedoms. The NY Daily News (who endorsed Mitt Romney in some election) got even dirtier, with a front page headline calling out the "House of Turds," and Boehner's giant orange frowny sobbing drunk face is front and center.

And now the guy who put the Obama in Obamacare is gonna be on all the teevees telling Republicans that even though they got their shutdown, Americans are still getting their Obamacare, so you know, suck on that. Also suck on the DNC raising more money today than they have since the election.

But maybe the very best indication of how this whole shutdown is going for the Republicans today is the fabulously named "shutdown denialism" Fox News has decided they will front to their viewers. Shutdown? What shutdown? It's aSlim down! There is no shutdown, so no one to blame. Go home and get drunk already.

 [Washington Post]