As congressional Republicans push the nation closer to its first government shutdown since the Republican shutdowns 17 years ago, GOP talking points are lacking an important quality: self-awareness.
Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), the #4 Republican in the House leadership, argued yesterday about Senate Democrats, “They’re the ones playing games.” This came just hours after she and her House colleagues told the Senate to approve a spending measure that would, among other things, block contraception access for many Americans, adding that if Democrats failed to agree, House Republicans would shut down the government.
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) added over the weekend that if Senate Democrats reject the House’s “reasonable proposals” — including, presumably, the anti-contraception idea — then Democrats are “the real extremists.” I don’t think he was kidding.
But when it comes to failures of self-awareness, leave it to the feeble Speaker of the House to offer the creme de la creme.
Senate Democrats must meet Sunday to vote on legislation funding the government, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said, calling their failure to do so “an act of breathtaking arrogance.”
Right. Boehner and his caucus are ignoring national election results, trying to advance its unpopular policy agenda through an extortion scheme, threatening to shut down the government in the hopes of denying millions of Americans health care benefits, and dismissing polls showing the American electorate pleading with House Republicans to be more responsible and less reckless.
But Senate Democrats are guilty of “breathtaking arrogance.” I’m not sure which is worse: the notion that Republicans are throwing around accusations that better describe themselves or the possibility that these GOP leaders actually believe their own nonsense.
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