Back in 2013, with Democrats controlling the Senate and White House, a study by the Media Research Center determined that the broadcast networks mostly blamed Republicans for that year's government shutdown. In the midst of the shutdown, Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer (now the Democratic Senate leader) actually went on ABC's This Week on October 6, 2013 to assure host George Stephanopoulos that Democrats would never shut the government down over an issue such as immigration.
Schumer:
We want to negotiate without a gun to our head. Speaker Boehner comes in and he says, basically -- it's sort of like this: Someone goes into your house, takes your wife and children hostage, and then says 'Let's negotiate over the price of your house.'
You know, we could do the same thing on immigration We believe strongly in immigration reform. We could say, 'we're shutting down the government, we're not gonna raise the debt ceiling, until you pass immigration reform.' It would be governmental chaos.
With a shutdown showdown currently looming over the Democrats' demands on immigration, will the networks recall Schumer's words if a shutdown comes to pass? Or will they stay true to form and blame Republicans?
