No, the Dems want the shutdown so bad they can't cover it up. They're like a teenager in a Las Vegas whorehouse, they don't know what to do with themselves.
They think it'll be a replay of the 1995 shutdown, with the Media playing their spin and beating the Tea Party into oblivion, as Obama disciplines the black voters to come out for him next year and all the Social Security recipients to remember who's signing their checks. Jerk that chain!
Worked like a charm for Slick and Beast and Little Tommy Dasschole.
And I believe the dems' tactics will actually work to their advantage in 2012, but if a shutdown has to happen, so be it. It's still the right thing, since the dems won't budge.