There’s now a flurry of statements from GOP congressional leadership essentially saying, Democrats need to do the right thing, act responsibly. The White House is claiming it’s about ACA for “illegals.” If anything this tends to confirm the folly of all these intricate and baroque arguments about how to win or argue or whatever else about a shutdown confrontation, whether you state explicit policy demands, or don’t state them or use subordinate clauses or the passive voice.
The last eight months has been about the White House and congressional leaders doing whatever they want, wildly violating the Constitution or — even on their own account of it — ignoring every norm or tradition about how government operates. And the argument or rationale has consistently been: We have the power. You don’t. Too bad. Brute force is not only Republicans’ own policy. It’s their own account of their own policy. It’s under “sucks to be you” in the manual of parliamentary procedure.
So Republicans have chosen the rules of legislative engagement. Now that Democrats, for once, have a cudgel, they’re supposed to be a pal(s) and help the Republican-only approach keep chugging along. That’s absurd and Democrats should be saying as much. I don’t think many TPM Readers will disagree on this point. But beyond that, again, it’s a reminder that this is and was never going to turn on fine-points of argument: “Are you doing this to compel a policy choice extraneous to the budgetary vehicle? Begone with you, man!” No. That’s not it. It’s about pure power back and forth to be judged in the court of public opinion. Whether Democrats will come out ahead on that I have no idea. But this we know.
