It's driving me crazy. People are not internalizing the fundamental issue with this shutdown brouhaha.
The essence of the difference in this shutdown is that - whereas the other 30 shutdowns were battles of a mechanically financial nature, i.e. not determining whether some agency should exist or not exist, but how many billions ought to be allocated to fund them. $30 billion or $34 billion. Stuff like that.
But this shutdown is premised on trying to legislate with the purse.
It's seems a yawning-worthy distinction, but it is everything.
KOS knows what I'm talking about, as he pointed out in his diary yesterday: Dear GOP, here's how you change a law
But here's the thing: If you want to truly get rid of the law, you have to do it the proper way, as specified in that Constitution you pretend to cherish. Those House votes? Those are a good start! Great job! You're a third of the way there. Because you still have to get that bill passed by the Senate. And then, you have to get the president to sign it. And if the president doesn't sign it, then you have to overturn that veto which requires a two-thirds majority, which you don't have even in the House.
Of course, I left a whiny (but grateful) comment in that diary because I wrote a diary 2 weeks ago trying to get the POV about this established thoroughly, because I believe that understanding it this way is critical. I only got a few views. Hell, It wasn't a very good diary. At least, it seemed, everybody was getting on board the logic train.
But...
Now the GOP is flummoxing Harry Reid by compelling the press to ask him, "why do you want to kill children?" And Joe Scarborough gets to spend 3 hours with a baffled panel that can't come up with any reason why Democrats don't want little children with cancer to get treatment.
It's driving me crazy.
Why does no one just say, "We will not legislate through the budget process." And of course elaborate on that with "defender of the Republic" gravitas explaining how, if we go down that road then what is the point of our Constitution which requires 218 votes in the house, 51 (oops, I mean 60) in the Senate and a signature from a president?
Democrats are so proud that they are smarter than Republicans, but they miss some easy pitches at crucial times. There's nothing nuanced here, just take the patriotic righteousness path and bury those hypocritical morans.