- Moderator
- #1
This is exactly what I suspected would be the case if a government shut down were to occur. The Democrats seem to have been thinking they could score political points because the last shut down hurt the GOP, but this is not like 1995. The Republicans controlled both chambers of Congress that year. This time they only have the House. The Dems have the Senate and the White House and the Senate adjourned before the budget was even sent to them last week to vote on it. The American public would seem to recognize that a government shut down would be on the shoulders of both parties, not just the one like before. It sounds like the Senate Democrats are starting to come to that conclusion as well, or always knew that and were just bluffing to see if the Republicans would back away from the $60 billion in cuts.
A stunning reversal from Senate leaders last week on a Republican plan to keep the government running beyond Fridays deadline reveals the growing understanding among Democrats that a government shutdown could be politically disastrous for them.
Thats also reflected in a new poll on a potential shutdown conducted for The Hill that shows voters would blame Democrats over Republicans 29 percent to 25 percent. That compares to the two-to-one margin by which voters blamed Republicans ahead of the 1995 shutdown.
While many voters remain undecided about who to blame, part of the Democratic problem has been on messaging. While House Speaker John Boehner has been insistent that he does not want a shut down, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid had been using amped-up rhetoric and seemed to be almost daring Republicans to force a shutdown.
Read more: Dems Lose First Round of Shutdown Struggle - FoxNews.com