A government shutdown over federal funding for Syrian refugees and Planned Parenthood is unlikely, albeit slightly, Congressman John Yarmuth assured Ed Schultz.
But if this occurs, Yarmuth added, Republicans will get blamed for it -- regardless of whether they are actually responsible. And Yarmuth apparently doesn't have a problem with this bizarre, cynical scenario, nor does Schultz.
Yarmuth, a Kentucky Democrat who serves on House Budget Committee, was one of the guests Tuesday on a daily podcast that Schultz has dubbed "Ed Schultz News and Commentary" since he was given the boot from ratings-starved MSNBC last summer. Schultz raised the specter of a possible government shutdown and asked Yarmuth for this thoughts --
SCHULTZ: The shooting at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colo., brings to light the conversation as to what might have motivated this nutjob to do that. The fear and the rhetoric that has taken place around the budget in this country has made a lot of people concerned -- uh, we're going to shutdown the government again, it's going to cost $25 billion, it's Obama's fault, it just, it goes on and on, you know all about it.
But the fact is that we have a date looming and that is going to be Dec. 11th and either we're going to fund the government or we're not. So the conversation of Planned Parenthood, the conversation of refugees from Syria coming into the United States, could be these bargaining chips that the conservatives are going to use to get what they want when it comes to funding the government. ...
(After introducing Yarmuth): Are we going to see a shutdown or is this, this is really the first test of leadership, I think, for the new Speaker, Paul Ryan, and also the House Majority Leader, Kevin McCarthy. What do you think's gonna happen and what's the conversation?
YARMUTH: Well, I think the odds are probably slightly against a shutdown. I certainly hope that there isn't one but the dynamics that have led to so many situations before, these crises of shutdowns and threatened shutdowns, still exists. And that is, there are a significant number of Republicans who are not going to vote for any budget because any spending is too much spending ...
Yarmuth making the persistent liberal error of confusing conservatives -- who consider it their patriotic duty to restrain government spending and reverse the runaway growth of our national debt -- with anarchists, who want no government at all. Yarmuth -- conservative Republicans see "any spending" as "too much spending." Reality -- conservative Republicans see too much spending as too much spending.
YARMUTH: ...and therefore in order to get a budget out of the House or a spending bill out of the House, we're going to have to have Democratic votes. So while they may think they have some leverage in trying to hold the bill hostage to Syrian refugee funding or something, that's going to cost them Democratic votes. And of course the leverage we have on the Democratic side is, no matter what the cause of a shutdown this time, Republicans will be blamed for it.
Yarmuth, paraphrased -- And of course we on the Democratic side can push the liberal agenda to the tilt, secure in the knowledge that if a shutdown results, our allies in media will help us demonize the GOP with even more fervor than usual. That's where you come in, Ed ...
Give the man credit for candidly sharing what Democrats tell each other during closed-door caucus meetings. If only such candor was the norm and not the exception after they leave the meeting.
Schultz let Yarmuth's remark about the presumed GOP culpability for government shutdowns pass without comment, followed by Yarmuth spouting boilerplate about the importance of "debate" --
SCHULTZ: Are we ever going to be able to dodge this periodically, that this just won't come up, and why does it constantly come up? Do we have to make more cuts? Do we have to tax more? Is it our taxation system, that we got corporations parking money offshore? What is it in your opinion?
YARMUTH: Well, I think we can always debate whether there's enough money to do what we need to do and whether, you know, some people say that there's so much waste, we can find it in cutting out waste and, you know, whether it's defense contracting or pharmaceutical pricing or whatever it may be, I think all those are very sound arguments. But I think basically what we have to have is strong leadership that recognizes that these crises undermine stability in the economy, they undermine world confidence in the United States, they undermine American citizens' confidence in their government's ability to function.
In citing "strong leadership," Yarmuth resorts to code -- Republicans caving to Democrats to avoid a shutdown and Democrats precipitating a shutdown for which Republicans will get blamed.
