Say Again, Who are the "Adults"?

After the fiasco of the first two weeks of October, in which the federal government ground to halt so we could all watch a few grown men throw a temper tantrum, there have been countless finger-pointing analyses. In this one, Senator Orrin Hatch laments the failure of "the adults" to take charge of the House of Representatives. He and other "establishment" Republicans, especially in the Senate would like to blame the Tea Party types like Texan Ted Cruz for making the party look like a bunch of fools.

But that's way too easy. Cruz is not in the House, and nobody has to listen to his self-serving nonsense, because he has no power and only limited influence. The people who refuse to accept the fact that Democrats, led by a black president -- that's right, I said this is about race -- won not one but two consecutive national elections represent only a small minority of the Republican Party. Why are they at fault?

Wack-jobs like those in the Tea Party movement only have seats in the government because "establishment" types gerrymandered their districts to ensure that no Democrat could win in certain parts of the country. Republicans did not invent this kind of vote rigging, but they have had to rely on it more in recent years as their policies have grown increasingly silly. Karl Rove was no rebel when he advocated this kind of cynical manipulation; in fact, he was the hero of the party back when his take-no-prisoners power grabbing helped the party win the White House. Now everybody acts like they never heard of the guy.

Furthermore, it was John Boehner's fool strategy not to accept any deal that required Democratic votes to pass it that caused the crisis. We all could have safely ignored all the noise from the wack-jobs if the two more reasonable factions had agreed to work out a deal. Instead, the "adults" insisted on enabling and coddling the "children" rather than working together to do the right thing. None of this stuff had to happen.

This Pretty Much Sums it Up

What one Congressman thinks the shut down is like:
http://gawker.com/gop-congressman-makes-park-ranger-apologize-for-shutdow-1440577868

What FoxNews thinks the shut down is like. (Actually, they call it a "slim down."):
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/10/03/house-republicans-weigh-probe-monument-closures-amid-slimdown/