Posted on 08/05/2011 8:52:34 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
If you want an example of how out of touch media commentators can be with American politics, look no farther than the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capehart. Barack Obama’s cave on tax hikes in the debt deal clearly annoyed Capehart, who criticized the President for his lack of “aggressiveness” that resulted in a deal that doesn’t reflect “the will of the people” — at least as Capehart sees it. Calling the Tea Party-backed Congressmen “carjackers,” Capehart called on Obama to be “Keyser Söze.” But that’s not the only place where Capehart’s perspective departs from reality:
If you’ve seen the brilliant movie “The Usual Suspects,” you know who this diabolical character is and what he did to gain mythical status. Suffice it to say that Söze so out-crazied the crazies that he became a person not to be messed with — a symbol of fear and grudging respect.
In the coming fights over the next budget, unemployment benefits and payroll tax cuts, I want Obama to show the Republican Party in general and the Tea Party in particular that he isn’t afraid to out-crazy the crazies. If that means vetoing bills, taking the fight to individual districts, shutting down the government, so be it.
We’ve already seen this strategy play out twice. Here in Minnesota, Gov. Mark Dayton reneged on his pledge not to shut down the government over his demand for tax hikes, refusing to negotiate a “lights on” bill with the Republican-controlled legislature to avoid the shutdown. How did that work out for Dayton? He rushed back to the capital to cut a deal without tax hikes when his own allies gave him a blast of disapproval in town-hall meetings around the state, while most Minnesotans barely noticed the difference. The shutdown only hurt Dayton’s voter base of unions and the poor. Instead of Keyser Söze, Dayton turned into Eric von Zipper.
Next, Harry Reid tried doing the same thing with the FAA. Unfortunately for Reid, his ploy was rather obvious; he had failed to move an authorization bill in the Senate and hoped that the prospect of putting thousands of government bureaucrats out of work would embarrass conservatives. After the media started grilling Reid on why he hadn’t done anything to move a Senate version of the bill, as well as realizing that putting bureaucrats out of work wasn’t exactly causing Tea Party activists to weep into their pillows at night, and especially after it became obvious that the system ran pretty well without them, Reid ended up quickly surrendering. Instead of Keyser Söze, Reid turned into Jeffrey Goines.
If Capehart doesn’t realize that the Tea Party activists in Congress want to shut down large portions of the federal government, what has he been doing the last two years? A partial government shutdown would please the Tea Party to no end. The only people it would hurt will be Obama’s own constituencies, especially since the entitlement checks would still have to go out to recipients, as those are mandated by statute and not budgeted annually by Congress. The biggest loser in an Obama-triggered shutdown would be Obama himself.
Maybe Capehart should spend some time talking with actual Tea Party activists before coming up with grand strategies like this.
Addendum: To answer Capehart’s question, Söze got the advantage over his competitors by murdering his own family, murdering all of his competitors afterward, and then disappearing. I’m not sure what relation that has to American governance — or to carjackers, for that matter, since The Usual Suspects didn’t have any of either. This analogy leaves a lot to be desired, including taste and the “civility” that Democrats spent the last six months demanding not just of Republican politicians but also conservative commentators.
How about a boycott on WaPo to shut up D-bag idiots?
That would terrify me, I sure hope he doesn’t shut down the government...
I don’t mind if they suspend government operations for a while... but I want to make sure that they start with BATFE, the Department of Education, and the IRS.
EPA, HUD, food stamps and on and on. BUT first stop paying Congress and that person in the WH.
Oh... please... don’t... shut... it... down. I... will... be... royally... screwed... without... the... government.
“That would terrify me, I sure hope he doesn’t shut down the government...”
ROTFL!
I’d yell “TarBaby” but then someone would call me racist.
What would be terrifying is if Obama shut down the departments that crank out billions of dollars in welfare benefits to millions of slackers.
/sarc
Would that mean that the checks that haven’t been coming to me my whole live still won’t be coming to me? Not really sure how I’ll survive...
Well, I WOULD say something like “Please Br’er Barack — PLEASE don’t throw me in that briar patch”...
...except it might be construed as ‘racist’.
‘-)
Somebody is going to call you racist no matter what.
Shut them down. Let them know who is in charge of the United States. Don’t start up the federal government again until they accept the fact that they have to follow the rules as set forth by the United States Constitution. If they can’t or won’t agree to that, throw them out and find someone who will.
Shut down the government?
Just shut down the non-essential parts of government.
OK, I’m repeating myself ...
Didn’t the FAA get ‘shut down’ for a while. Yet my sister and niece flew to visit me and back home okay. Nothing happened. The only people who have something to fear are government parasites and the Congresscritters who are afraid We The People will see how well the country runs after the ‘shutdown’.
-PJ
So we’re supposed to “fear” the President? Is that how it works?
Shut it down and send Congress home, maybe that way we’ll save billions and keep those Marxist Democrats from more nefarious mischief.
Looks boss done gave himself the finger again.
Jonathan Capehart
@CapehartJ Washington, DC
Editorial Writer for the Washington Post and MSNBC Contributor
http://tonypowell.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/c2a9-tony-powell-511.jpg
CapehartJ Jonathan Capehart
COLUMN: NYT-CBS News poll: #Obama doing ok. Congress? Not so much. http://wapo.st/o1xvE2 #p2 #gop #nyt #teaparty @cbsnews @nytimes
1 minute ago
CapehartJ Jonathan Capehart
Tea Partyers REALLY don’t like this piece: Time for #Obama to be feared by the #TeaParty. http://wapo.st/nuWsCI #p2 #GOP
3 minutes ago
CapehartJ Jonathan Capehart
@ @Joy__Hart No shows today, Joy....But subbing for Bashir next week, Tues - Friday!
4 hours ago
CapehartJ Jonathan Capehart
RT @pwire: No joke, Sarah Palin’s hair salon is getting its own reality show: Big Hair Alaska... http://pwire.at/n5PBtV //STOP IT!
3 Aug
CapehartJ Jonathan Capehart
How is it that someone I blocked for being racist & annoying is able to tweet me? #help
3 Aug
CapehartJ Jonathan Capehart
COLUMN: #TeaParty isn’t interested in governing. http://wapo.st/mOSWbG #p2 #gop #debtceiling #msnbc @hardball
3 Aug
CapehartJ Jonathan Capehart
COLUMN: Default averted - finally! http://wapo.st/ouIPQ6 #p2 #gop #teaparty #debtceiling
2 Aug
CapehartJ Jonathan Capehart
@ @schnaity I don’t even know what the “deal” is exactly. Getting past 2012, tho, if true, is a relief to me. Nation cant go thru this again.
31 Jul
ThePlumLineGS Greg Sargent
by CapehartJ
That some on right don’t think Reid offer of over $2 trillion in cuts is a “compromise” clearly shows what right thinks “compromise” means
30 Jul
CapehartJ Jonathan Capehart
COLUMN: My ex takes on @PeggyNoonannyc. #Obama is loved. http://wapo.st/nvKWqT #p2 #gop #lgbt #gay #teaparty
29 Jul
http://twitter.com/#!/CapehartJ
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