It's a measure of our media -- well, most of it -- that they still present the political battle in Washington as the usual tussle between Republican hardliners and the Democrats. Finally, in this morning's New York Times, the top headlines tell the real story: "G.O.P. Elders See Liabilities in Shutdown" and "Rattled Congress Seeks Way Out of Its Standoff." The real battle is an internal, Republican battle. Rachel Maddow was all over it last night.
In terms of warfare, the Democrats in Congress are (along with the rest of the nation) victims of a vicious fight between two groups of dogs, one group old and tired, the others rabid and confused -- and all of them elected Republicans.
Republican efforts to resolve the fiscal standoff that has closed much of the federal government heated up Thursday, the third day of the shutdown, with new talks over a broad budget deal and an effort by more moderate House members to break the logjam.
The hard-line stance of Republican House members on the government shutdown is generating increasing anger among senior Republican officials, who say the small bloc of conservatives is undermining the party and helping President Obama just as the American people appeared to be losing confidence in him.
From statehouses to Capitol Hill, frustration is building and spilling out during closed-door meetings as Republicans press leaders of the effort to block funding for the health care law to explain where their strategy is ultimately leading.
“Fighting with the president is one thing,” said Senator Roy Blunt, Republican of Missouri. “Fighting with the president and losing is another thing. When you’re in the minority you need to look really hard to find the fights you can win.”...NYT
From a slightly different angle, here's another view of the Capitol.
Republican efforts to resolve the fiscal standoff that has closed much of the federal government heated up Thursday, the third day of the shutdown, with new talks over a broad budget deal and an effort by more moderate House members to break the logjam....
“The longer this goes, the closer we get to the debt limit and the more the two of these roll together,” said Representative James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma and a member of the Budget Committee. “If any agreement is going to happen we’re going to have to have multiple negotiators rather than have Boehner come back with it.”
In a Capitol rattled by a shooting on the grounds that killed a woman and injured a police officer, tempers have flared and pressure appears to be mounting to resolve a stalemate that has shut large parts of the government, sidelined 800,000 federal workers and forced more than one million more to work without pay. ...NYT
The display of irresponsibility and childishness took on more color last night with Rachel Maddow's history lesson: Newt Gingrich shut the government down last time, admittedly!, because of what he perceived as a social snub by Bill Clinton when both men were on a plane traveling to a funeral. A snub! And the payback was a government shutdown. This time it's about feeling "disrespected," according to one tea party representative from Indiana.
Here's Maddow's history lesson.
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During one of the more embarrassing times in American history occurred -- during the run-up to the 2o12 election --f the Republicans fielded candidates who were, for the most part, a raggle-taggle group of extremists and clowns. In the end none of them came closer than a terrorist to the White House and the Republican party took a cold bath. That bath was as powerful as the illusory snub on the plane. But it didn't clean up the House or its leadership.
As we keep having to repeat, and serious as the "shutdown" is becoming, it's really all about childishness. I suppose we could raise the excuse a notch by saying "it's really all about EQ." Maturity. And that word Republicans have decided is off limits: empathy. Republicans' feelings are hurt and the rest of America's feelings -- or futures -- don't matter.
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NPR reports on the "what if" of the stand-off and lays out the possibilities of, um, a resolution?
President Obama says he's willing to talk with Republican lawmakers about adjustments to the health care law and other issues, but only after they re-open the government and lift the threat of a federal default.
"I'm happy to negotiate with you on anything. I don't think any one party has a monopoly on wisdom. But you don't negotiate by putting a gun to the other person's head," Obama says.
Experts in negotiation say the president's stance may be justified, but it's also risky.
President Obama has been negotiating with congressional Republicans, off and on, for the last three years, ever since the GOP took control of the House.
Robert Mnookin, who chairs the Harvard Program on Negotiation, says Obama's approach to this latest round is very different than it was during the last big debt ceiling fight in 2011.
"I think the president has appropriately seen that he had to toughen up," Mnookin says. "He took a beating in these earlier negotiations. He tried to make deals. It didn't work. He was criticized by his own party. And I think as a consequence he figured, I've really got to be much tougher."
Mnookin, whose latest book is titled Bargaining with the Devil: When to Negotiate, When to Fight, says it makes sense to fight in this instance rather than rewarding Republicans for using the full faith and credit of the government as a bargaining chip. Still, Mnookin adds the president's strategy is not without risk.
"Perhaps if he simply hangs tough, a week and a half from now, the Republicans will cave and he won't have to do anything. But if it doesn't happen, the consequences for all of us, for the American economy, are very, very serious," Mnookin says.
Another negotiating expert, William Ury, says what's needed is a face-saving bridge that both sides could use to back down from the standoff. Ury, who's helped to train hostage negotiators among others, says it's possible to talk with anyone, even if you're not willing to meet all of their demands.
"Negotiation doesn't mean giving up on core principles," Ury says. "You don't deal with a problem with your neighbor by cutting the phone line."
In this case neither side really wants a government default, which could be disastrous for the economy. But neither is certain how far the other is willing to go. Mnookin says at the bargaining table, it can be an advantage to seem just a little bit crazier than your opponent.
"If two cars are entering an intersection, headed towards one another, playing a game of chicken, and one of the drivers can take the steering wheel off and toss it out the window, that person wins the game." ...ME/NPR
"John Boehner may not be willing to go that far..," says NPR.
Well, okay...
