Ruh roh, Raggy
The whole “if you’re in a hole, stop digging” thing seems to really be escaping the tea party members in Congress these days. This past week, for example, my Congressman, Tim Walberg, sent out an email hilariously titled “Rep Walberg Works to Reopen Government”, claiming that he “passed four pieces of legislation to fund the entire government”. Of course, what he doesn’t happen to mention is that he’s part of what is now known as the “Suicide Caucus” who shut down the government to begin with. Suicide Caucus is the name given them by conservative Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer of all people:
I admire the sincerity and the passion of those who don’t want to pass the budget unless you get rid of Obamacare, but it is utterly impossible in the real world. And the only thing it will do is to undo all the gains the Republicans have made over the past year, and undo their very real chances of having great successes next year.”“I think it’s a suicide caucus…”
Tim Walberg is a charter member and he is joined by Congressmen Kerry Bentivolio and Dan Benishek. The results are now coming in from various polling groups and the impact on the reelection chances of the Suicide Caucus members is grim.
First, we have Quinnipiac University Polling Institute’s poll that has these interesting results:
Do you support or oppose Congress cutting off funding of the health care law as a way to stop it from being put into place?Support: 34%
Oppose: 58%Do you support or oppose Congress shutting down major activities of the federal government as a way to stop the health care law from being put into place?
Support: 22%
Oppose: 72%
Those are stark numbers for Republicans and show that Americans are sick to death of their obstructionism. The poll also shows that Democrats hold a 9-point lead in the Congressional generic ballot (43-34 percent) which is their largest lead of the cycle. Republicans are increasingly reviled with voters disapproving of the job they are doing by an astonishing 57 points, 74% dissapproving. This is their lowest score ever with only 13% of independents, a crucial demographic in our polarized political sphere, approving of their job performance.
It’s clear that Americans are holding Republicans responsible for shutting down the government over their inability to accept that the Affordable Care Act is now “a thing”. Hard to imagine how they wouldn’t understand that after the insane level of grandstanding Republicans have done on the topic.
I hope we all agree that this is a #GOPshutdown. Hate to think Ted Cruz took 21 hrs out of his busy schedule to explain that for nothing.
— Chris Savage (@Eclectablog) October 7, 2013
But, wait! There’s more! And it’s even worse for Walberg, Benishek, and Bentivolio. Here are results from PPP polling, one of the most accurate in the industry:
- Benishek is under water on his approval among voters in his district by 21 points (54-33) and, if the election today, a generic Democrat would beat him 56-35, another 21-point deficit.
- Bentivolio’s approval rating stands at 55% disapproval with only 28% approving of the job he’s doing, a huge 27% gap. If he went up against the proverbial generic Democrat today, he’d get his clock cleaned by 16 points (53-37).
- Walberg shows an approval rating of a scant 33% with 46% disapproving and would lose to a generic Democrat by 8 points (49-41).
Clearly Michiganders have had it with these irrational people who are no longer representing their constituents and are single-mindedly focused on pursuing their ideological crusade to ensure that people without health insurance stat uninsured. And it’s not just in Michigan. The same series of polling done by PPP shows that Republicans are behind in 17 different districts currently held by a Republican. Given that Democrats only need 17 seats to get a majority in the House, it’s beginning to look like the only way to defeat Republican gerrymandering and win a seat is to let a tea party member get elected to it for a couple of years.
As Organizing for Action puts it: ENOUGH ALREADY!
What’s most amazing about these poll numbers is that they came out before the debt ceiling battle that is now before us. It’s one thing to shut down the government but it’s entirely another thing to become a deadbeat nation that doesn’t pay its bills and that appears to be another political hill that the Suicide Caucus is will to die on to appease their tea party base.
One completely out-of-touch Republican on this issue is Ted Yoho from Florida who thinks — I’m not making this up, I swear — that the United States of America defaulting on its debt obligations will “bring stability to the world markets”:
“I think we need to have that moment where we realize [we’re] going broke,” Yoho said. If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, that will sure as heck be a moment. “I think, personally, it would bring stability to the world markets,” since they would be assured that the United States had moved decisively to curb its debt.
The reality, of course, is that if the USA defaults on even some of its debt, it will create complete chaos in the world markets and will almost assuredly cause a global economic catastrophe never before seen.
See what happens when you put people in charge of government who hate government?
The handwriting is on the wall for Michigan Congressional Republicans. Michigan voters have their number and, come 2014, they will no longer be part of the government that they so whole-heartedly despise.
