Dennis Ross, GOP Rep: 'Pride' Is Why Republicans Won't Budge On Government Shutdown
Source: Huffington Post
WASHINGTON -- With the government shutdown in its fifth day, many Republicans have conceded the fight is no longer about Obamacare. Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.) added his name to the list on Saturday, saying the matter now boils down to "pride."
“Republicans have to realize how many significant gains we’ve made over the last three years, and we have, not only in cutting spending but in really turning the tide on other things," Ross told The New York Times. "We can’t lose all that when there’s no connection now between the shutdown and the funding of Obamacare."
"I think now it’s a lot about pride," he added.
The fight over keeping the government open began with Republicans insisting that any funding bill include anti-Obamacare provisions, starting with a full-fledged campaign led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to defund the health care law. When that plan was rejected by the Senate, House Republicans offered a series of spending bills that continued to chip away at Obamacare; their final offer included a one-year delay of the law's individual mandate and a ban on federal health care subsidies to members of Congress and their staffs.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/05/dennis-ross-government-shutdown_n_4050231.html
Republicans repeatedly, repeatedly admit on the record that they shutdown the government in order to "get respect" or in this case, "pride," which brings to mind Gingrich being ticked about where he sat on Air Force One. Yet, the media bends over backwards to portray this in false equivalency terms even though Republicans are contradictory about what it is they want from a negotiation with the President. Now, Boehner just says he wants to sit at the negotiating table with the President. What for? A photo op.
I wish we were making this up, but Republicans are their own worst advocates. If only the media would just call this for the farce that it is.
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He admits that the Republican obstructionism on the ACA was NOT really about the ACA, but was done to "maintain credibility with their base" because they had "run on repealing Obamacare".
Ross is NOT one of the (non-existent) so-called Republican "moderates", but is a Tea Party favorite who has one of the "most conservative" records from the Club for Growth and the American Conservative Union.
The Bloomberg article on Ross clearly shows what the purpose of this entire shutdown drama is. And it is NOT about "Obamacare". It is Shock Doctrine Disacter Capitalism at its worst. It is about setting up a phony crisis in order to make a "compromise" slashing SS, MC, and other social safety net programs.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023789721
