via A Federal Budget Crisis Months in the Planning – NYTimes.com.
Amid disingenuous representations by Republican leaders that it’s the Democrats who want a government shutdown, it’s very useful to look back at the genesis of this hostage-taking strategy as this article does.
In summary, the Republican plan dubbed the “blueprint to defunding Obamacare”, conservatives “articulated a take-no-prisoners legislative strategy that had long percolated in conservative circles: that Republicans could derail the health care overhaul if conservative lawmakers were willing to push fellow Republicans — including their cautious leaders — into cutting off financing for the entire federal government.”
This is not the Democrats’ government shutdown, nor is it Obama’s. This is a shakedown, pure and simple. It’s a bunch of thugs taking a hostage and negotiating for a ransom. For them to then blame the other side for not negotiating is the height of dishonesty.
