House Republicans can eat a Dick.

chalupa

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What I don't understand is why they aren't being eviscerated for shutting down the government because they don't like a law that was passed years ago and got through the Supreme Court. Like the law or not, but somehow a minority of the minority party is holding everything else hostage, and people are not up in arms about this.

Blows my mind.
 

Nocturnal

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Those guy's aren't being destroyed because our lazy, shitty media is describing the whole thing as "oh wells, two sides want different things and haven't compromised".

Typical liberal media!


There is no room for compromise, there is friggin nothing to discuss. It's a law, it is constitutional. Fucking tea party fuckwads.
 

FenderBender

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It is a law and it is constitutional, but so is passing a continuing resolution that includes clauses about delaying the ACA. You can disagree with what they're doing, but they're using the same legal apparatus that congress used to pass the ACA in the first place.
 

BigMattTheHobo

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Shutting down the government because you didn't get your way is more extreme than merely passing a law. Sure, you could say it's the same legal apparatus. Them passing a law to say blacks are 3/5 of a person would be the same legal apparatus. (This is just an example. I'm not going to debate if it could even happen)

They should know better. And they should have figured out a better way to fight Obamacare, like waiting for the next election. The American people kept Obama, and the SCOTUS upheld ACA. there's no excuse for what the GOP is doing. It's a fringe political element hijacking our government and refusing to play ball.
 
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Sure there's an excuse, they're trying to stop a law from going into place that nobody wanted. Sure, they could wait for the next election, which is the much better way to fight, but whatever pisses off Obama is good for me.
 

FenderBender

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Shutting down the government because you didn't get your way is more extreme than merely passing a law. Sure, you could say it's the same legal apparatus. Them passing a law to say blacks are 3/5 of a person would be the same legal apparatus. (This is just an example. I'm not going to debate if it could even happen)

They should know better. And they should have figured out a better way to fight Obamacare, like waiting for the next election. The American people kept Obama, and the SCOTUS upheld ACA. there's no excuse for what the GOP is doing. It's a fringe political element hijacking our government and refusing to play ball.
Firstly, saying they are shutting down the government isn't really true. They are refusing to extend the previous budget beyond it's deadline. Self-funded and emergency services are still operational. It is not the same as passing a law saying blacks are 3/5 of a person, since it would be unenforceable and eventually be ruled unconstitutional by the courts. The legislature does have a Constitutional right to pass laws and approve budgets.

Saying that they should have figured out a better way is ironic since, as you've pointed out this has ground government function to a halt until they address this issue. It seems to me like House representatives have found the most effective way to get their agenda out there without controlling the rest of the government. Terms like 'fringe' and 'hijacking' are being used simply because you don't agree with their point-of-view. It's a majority of the House of Representatives. It's hard to call that a fringe. And they're not hijacking, they're performing their Constitutionally appointed role.

I don't agree with the ACA, but I have no doubt that this is a cynical attempt by congressman to smear Obama's campaign. That being said, they were elected by their constituents to represent them. And I highly doubt that the people who elected them disagree with what they're doing. Acting like this is a terrorist group that have invaded Capitol Hill is spinning a situation you don't agree with. It's really not any different than blaming the Senate because they could just agree to the House's bill.
 

chalupa

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Fender, I get just as pissed when Democrats attach riders to completely unrelated bills to sneak through their own agenda. This is absolutely hijacking the entire federal govt to repeal a law they have failed to repeal since 2009 using every other means.

If the country were so truly against it, you'd be looking at a republican controlled house, parity if not republican controlled senate, and a republican president.

Polls on this issue are bullshit, because there is a 15 percentage point difference in the response if it is called "Obamacare" vs "Affordable Care Act," and nobody truly knows what the public thinks because the public is wholly misinformed about what is actually in the law.

Pass a clean budget bill, because not passing a budget does not stop the ACA. End of story. regroup, win in the next election cycle.
 

BigMattTheHobo

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Chalupa responded better than I could, so I'll just address a couple things...

It is a fringe political ideology. And the tea party is a minority within the GOP, but they've managed to buttrape Boehner into doing what they want, because the rest of the GOP is afraid of opposing the fringe tea party element because it will make them look compliant with Obama's agenda to the numerous asinine voters out there.


The tea party's ideology is extreme and on the fringe. They've basically cherry picked elements of libertarianism and thrown in Christian gospel. It's insane.
 

FenderBender

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Fender, I get just as pissed when Democrats attach riders to completely unrelated bills to sneak through their own agenda. This is absolutely hijacking the entire federal govt to repeal a law they have failed to repeal since 2009 using every other means.

If the country were so truly against it, you'd be looking at a republican controlled house, parity if not republican controlled senate, and a republican president.

Polls on this issue are bullshit, because there is a 15 percentage point difference in the response if it is called "Obamacare" vs "Affordable Care Act," and nobody truly knows what the public thinks because the public is wholly misinformed about what is actually in the law.

Pass a clean budget bill, because not passing a budget does not stop the ACA. End of story. regroup, win in the next election cycle.
My point is only that you can't call it hijacking if it is expressly written as the job of congress. It's against the idea of the separation of powers to say that you should just cave if the other branches of government disagree. And this isn't a budget. It's a continuing resolution. A budget has absolutely no chance in hell of passing because neither side can agree on anything at the moment.

This is unfortunately how government works. I would hope that people who aren't happy with it are having serious misgivings about the system as is, because they're not doing anything illegal here. They're using the system they have to accomplish their agenda.
 

BigMattTheHobo

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This is how government works when we continue to divide ourselves along partisan lines and expect the same from our elected officials, who, by the way, have gerrymandered their districts into safety. We've let both sides of the aisle continue to bastardize how our government works. This time it's the GOP being the bastards.
 

chalupa

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But we're not on to other things, Dev. we can't.

Fender, they should pass a clean continuing resolution then. Pass clean laws, address the problem later.

as for the "illegality" of it, you are right, it is not illegal to act like total crybabies and dicks. They have that right, but if you look into the history of Congress, from late 1800's to pretty much newt gingrich, there was a level of respect and acceptance that if the other side had the majority rule, protest, debate, and discussion were fair game, but then deference was the game of the day. During the 30's and 40s with the New Deal...the republicans used the exact same language to protest the Dems' plans, and then got in line and modified, but didn't sabotage.

now, they are just stomping off and conflating two things to try to get their way. The Republicans are going to lose because of this, not gain. Mark my words.
 

Nocturnal

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Firstly, saying they are shutting down the government isn't really true. They are refusing to extend the previous budget beyond it's deadline. Self-funded and emergency services are still operational. It is not the same as passing a law saying blacks are 3/5 of a person, since it would be unenforceable and eventually be ruled unconstitutional by the courts. The legislature does have a Constitutional right to pass laws and approve budgets.

Saying that they should have figured out a better way is ironic since, as you've pointed out this has ground government function to a halt until they address this issue. It seems to me like House representatives have found the most effective way to get their agenda out there without controlling the rest of the government. Terms like 'fringe' and 'hijacking' are being used simply because you don't agree with their point-of-view. It's a majority of the House of Representatives. It's hard to call that a fringe. And they're not hijacking, they're performing their Constitutionally appointed role.

I don't agree with the ACA, but I have no doubt that this is a cynical attempt by congressman to smear Obama's campaign. That being said, they were elected by their constituents to represent them. And I highly doubt that the people who elected them disagree with what they're doing. Acting like this is a terrorist group that have invaded Capitol Hill is spinning a situation you don't agree with. It's really not any different than blaming the Senate because they could just agree to the House's bill.
Excellent spin there.

They are essentially using a loophole, and they are in fact directly responsible for shutting down the government. People out there aren't getting paychecks, public safety is at risk, people who rely on public services are looking at possibly going hungry.

These people are damaging the economy and wasting billions of dollars in a vain attempt to block the ACA. What they are doing is legal of course, but it's hardly the intent of the law to allow this kind of thing to happen. It is despicable. This may wind up costing our society 2 billion dollars, all to improve the street cred of some nutjobs for other nutjobs.

The repubs are going to get murdered in the next election cycles over this. Polls suggest that 72% of the public thinks that this action is wrong, even many that don't agree with the ACA. If this continues, then no doubt that number will rise.
 

FenderBender

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Excellent spin there.

They are essentially using a loophole, and they are in fact directly responsible for shutting down the government. People out there aren't getting paychecks, public safety is at risk, people who rely on public services are looking at possibly going hungry.

These people are damaging the economy and wasting billions of dollars in a vain attempt to block the ACA. What they are doing is legal of course, but it's hardly the intent of the law to allow this kind of thing to happen. It is despicable. This may wind up costing our society 2 billion dollars, all to improve the street cred of some nutjobs for other nutjobs.

The repubs are going to get murdered in the next election cycles over this. Polls suggest that 72% of the public thinks that this action is wrong, even many that don't agree with the ACA. If this continues, then no doubt that number will rise.
What is the loophole?
 

Nocturnal

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What is the loophole?
The intent of our system is not to allow the challenge of laws by refusing to fund the budget in order to block them.

Congress passed a bill, it was signed into law by the president, and SCOTUS ruled that it was not constitutional. So yeah, what they are doing is "legal" but that is not how the process is supposed to work. If this behavior becomes commonplace then the stability of our entire government is threatened. Imagine a shutdown occurring every year over the controversial law du jour.
 
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