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this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2023
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He's right.
All the GOP has to do it keep on blaming Biden for it and Fox News will repeat that narrative endlessly.
What's worse is that other media outlets will as well since Democrats will, as usual, remain quiet and have no marketing behind their message. Democrats will just go ahead and allow Republicans to place all the blame onto Biden because god forbid they ever try to defend themselves.
Yeah, but there is so much tone policing to be done, as well as the decorum and respect for the norms. Meaning, the Democratic Party is supposed to be a punching bag and not pipe up too much about all the gaslighting and the craziness from the hard right. The Democrats are held to a higher standard, at all times, even if they miss a comma somewhere, while the Republicans are held to none whatsoever, and expected to be awful.
Republicans are given one free-pass after another, while Democrats are held to impossibly-high standards.
Who are we kidding? Their base is so delusional it doesn't matter what happens - they will never vote anything but Rethuglican. One moment Trump is the shadow president actually running the show, the next it's Biden's fault but he's also a clone. It's amazing they remember to breath on a regular basis.
It isn't the base that we need to flip. No party can win with ONLY it's base. It is the roughly 1/3 of Americans who are independents that need to be convinced and increasingly they are rather sick and tired of the social nonsense they see from Democrats. They are sick of the identity politics BS and even if they might otherwise lean Democrat, they might not in the upcoming election.
Historically the public has blamed Republicans for shutting down the government when Republicans shut down the government. The divide in the caucus is between those Republicans in safe districts who have to be extremist in order to avoid getting primaried and those Republicans in competitive districts who might lose their seat in the general if the public blames the GOP for the shutdown. The Democrats mostly just have to message that they will take a reasonable deal to avoid the shutdown and let the rest be McCarthy's problem.
Eh, it didn't work out for them the last two times they tried. Despite the conservatives decades long war against "the government", their local economies are just as reliant on government spending as anyone else.
A shut down always hits red states harder, they're for the most part more dependent on federal funding for their social care. They typically also have more military bases, government agencies, and defense contractors as well.
So while you typically see more conservative cohesion, even with policy the majority of conservative politicians may not agree with..... the one thing you still can't do as a conservative is fuck with the bag. Conservatives = keep the money flowing, and the easiest way to do that is by capturing increased government spending, not shutting off the tap.
Do you actually think they understand that? I know ex-military who get a monthly pension who can't stop bad-mouthing the big bad gob'ment. Or ones who work for government contractors - literally their job is directly dependent on government money - and they are always complaining on how much money the gob'ment wastes on "useless" programs.
What kills me is that Democrats typically let people like these slide by lessening the hurt that they would otherwise feel if something happened to that gob'ment they hate so much. If I am not mistaken, last time, Dems were quick to propose that military members continued to get paid even when the government was shut down. All that does is soften the blow. It actually makes it easier for Republicans to force a shut down because they won't be harassed as much by their military members since they will still get paid. If you're not feeling the pain from a shut down, then you are more likely to support it.
They will get visibly agitated when this is pointed out, by the way. I remember asking someone who was complaining about "all the government waste" and blaming it on Obama at the time : "don't you work for [big defense contractor]? And all their money comes from the government?"
Lots of denial and anger followed. From a simple question that, if answered honestly, will utterly pierce their narrative...
We must know the same people! LOL
My theory is that a certain type of personality gets even more reactionary and "anti-government" the more they are on the dole. They wouldn't want their job/services cut, but they'll complain about "waste" and the supposedly lazy and undeserving having a job/getting some services...{ dog whistle }
The politicians do, and that's all that really matters. Why do you think corporations give them hundreds of thousands of dollars every year? I can tell you it's not to turn off the free government money.