Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) also told the park ranger that she should be ashamed of herself. Where do these arrogant sons of bitches get off going out and bullying federal employees who are probably working without pay? These employees don’t make enough when they ARE being paid to put up with the bullshit from these self-serving egotists. Neugebauer obviously has disdain for the rank and file federal employee, as his demeanor shows.

This man should be hung permanently in the Bad Congressman Hall of Shame. He is a disgrace to the office he holds and should immediately apologize to all federal employees. He also needs to stop blaming Harry Reid. The budget originates in the House. Rep. Randy Neugebauer knows what needs to be done to fund the government. He is lying to himself and to all of us. He needs to take much of the blame on himself.

Neugebauer is also a birther. I am sure he had plenty to say about blaming President Obama also. It just wasn’t captured on the video. Why is he even down at the WWII Memorial? It’s obvious that he is grandstanding and stirring up trouble. Perhaps he misses the irony that President Barack Obama’s maternal grandfather was a WWII veteran who sserved under General Patton. The WWII Memorial should not become a the new gathering place for banana republicans who want to continue to stamp their brand on the site. They are not worthy.

96 Thoughts to “Rep. Neugebauer berates park service ranger for doing her job”

  1. Carlos Danger

    Agree 110% Moon. This dude was a dick. The son of a bitch people should be yelling at is who ever ordered Park Services to put up the barrycades. These Park Services people are just doing their job.

  2. punchak

    Another great Texan! Greta van Susteren interviewed Ted Cruz tonight.
    That man is unbelievable. What’s more unbelievable is the power he seems
    to wield over his fellow Republicans.

  3. Starry flights

    After what happened yesterday at the Capitol, one should respect the hard and dangerous work our law enforcement officers perform. Right now they are working for free. The congressman must learn to respect our men and women who risk their lives to keep us safe

    1. Absolutely! I thought the very same thing myself today. They are out there working for free and getting run over by same crazed person, all for free. thank you for your comment.

  4. I’m still trying to figure out why the admin is wasting money on blocking off an open air, non-attended, 24 hour memorial on an open air park?

    And if they are at work..they are “essential” and getting paid.

    1. Their paychecks are on hold. If you aren’t getting a regular paycheck I think we can put that in the “not getting paid” column, at least until you have your check in your hand.

      The WWII Memorial is being used as a political prop which just makes me sick. Why is the Grand Canyon which is about as open air as you can get, closed off? Let’s move beyond the WWII Memorial. How about Assateague National Seashore. Why is that closed off?

      I thought you folks didn’t like government. Yet, I hear all sorts of howling and moaning about not being able to go to memorials maintained by the government on TV. Just out of curiosity, who is going to clean up all the litter from the trash cans? There are no park service employees on the trash routes. Maybe that is another reason for closing those open air facilities. As far as I am concerned, those members of congress who had to go down and cheapen the WWII Memorial should be on garbage detail. No one else is picking it all up and the cans are overflowing.

      Additionally, lights are cut off. So someone goes in there in the dark and falls into a reflecting pool or is attacked by street thugs–then who is going to be hollering like stuck pigs.

      There’s more to all of this than just walking around a monument. There are lots of behind the scenes expenses that people never think about.

      However, let’s get back to the issue at hand which you conveniently ignored. How about that rude, nasty congressman from Texas taking out his political uppitiness on a park employee? How low is that? She has no more control over the parks being closed than the man in the moon. He is a bully.

  5. BSinVA

    Being a public servant does not mean being a public whipping boy. However, whipping a public servant does mean getting votes from the wing nuts.

    1. That speaks to character. I won’t have anything to do with people who berate food servers. I know several people who somehow think that they are enhanced by big-assing and treating servers rudely. I won’t associate with them.

      No one does that to bartenders. Its obvious why.

  6. Lyssa

    After Neugebauer criticized the Ranger this encounter occurred –

    The bystander at the site said he, too, was a federal employee who was out of work, and the park ranger was “doing her job.” Neugebauer put blame on Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) for the unemployment.
    “Well, the reason you are is because Mr. Reid decided to shut down the government,” Neugebauer told the man.
    “No, it’s because the government won’t do its job and pass a budget,” the bicyclist

    Congress better wake up. It’s not bipartisan any more outside the dome. It’s us and them. As for Neugebauer – he speaks for himself. Bet he makes a grand entrance in church on Sundays and of course marches to his seat down front. So disgusted by this type….

  7. The WWII Memorial is being used as a political prop which just makes me sick. Why is the Grand Canyon which is about as open air as you can get, closed off? Let’s move beyond the WWII Memorial. How about Assateague National Seashore. Why is that closed off?

    Why exactly …. IS the question.

    Oh…because the President wants it that way to “spread the pain.”

    He’s a spiteful child.

    As for the Congressman….he was rude. But I think that the Park Ranger will go home, have a beer, and forget about it.

    1. @Cargo

      Is that what you really think?

      The parks are not being funded. The government is shut down. Its really that simple. Who pays for the lights, trash pick up, maintenance?

      The president is a spiteful child? What planet are you living on? What does any president do when the government has shut down? You do know that the President didn’t decide not to fund the government?

      Cargo, I am going out on a limb and say that I feel confident you really don’t really think that this is all stemming from President Obama wanting to make someone ‘pay.’ Sorry, that is just mental.

  8. Pat.Herve

    While I agree with the appearance of leaving open air parks open – I also have some questions – who is going to clean the trash that accumulates? are there any patrols that normally happen that have been cut back (vandalism)? What happens if someone gets hurt has the expected medical response time changed? Maintenance items – if something breaks and someone falls – who will pay out on the law suit?

    I think people are expecting nothing to change with a shutdown and then want the services as they have come to expect. Mortgage applications will soon be affected – and that damages our economy. Closing an open air park is very visible while the defunding of NIH (which stops treatment) is not very visible.

  9. Rick Bentley

    This detachment from what’s real is becoming the hallmark of the right wing.
    And they don’t even understand what is happening in this current shutdown – what it does to good people, some of who are actually working without pay. The right wing doesn’t deal with the real world. They are forever fighting against ghosts and straw men, against their imaginary vision that America is still as bloated and liberal as it was 35 years ago.

    “I think that the Park Ranger will go home, have a beer, and forget about it.” I hung around some of the Park Rangers years ago – my girlfriend was one. They would tell me stories about the people who would come in, ask them questions about apocryphal incidents of “God” being removed from monument inscriptions, and get angry and insistent at the rangers when the rangers tried to explain (i.e. “interpret”) the real history to them. These rangers interacted with hundreds of different people, thousands per week, year after year, and it was their observation that some of the right-wing Rush Limbaugh listeners that came in were particularly out of touch with what’s real. This was in the late 90’s; things have clearly gotten worse since then.

    1. They needed a replacement for communists that were under every rock. We knew when the USSR ‘turned’ that we would have problems. Some people just need to unite behind some common enemy. They have turned from being against the communist government to being against their own government. Is that some sort of self-loathing now?

  10. Rick Bentley

    Pat you are exactly right. They do need to pay people to clean trash away. They come in with those long grabber things and really go at it. You shoud see them going at it after the 4th of July celebration ends – hundreds of workers spreading out – it’s quite a sight.

    1. Those massive clean ups are almost orchestrated.

      The trash will be a huge problem in a few days, if it isn’t already. Get Congress out there in haz-mat suits to clean it all up. It would be a humbling experience for some of those sons of bitches.

      They also need to be reminded that with tourist attractions come water bottles, pizza boxes, sandwich wrappers and all other types of rubbish that attract vermin of all sorts. Tell me why again that we want to keep monuments open when there is no one there to clean up?

      Open air or closed up–trash and garbage doesn’t really care.

      Once again, simple answers for very complex problems. Is there a reason that the banana republicans don’t see past their noses? Is it all about vets or are there consequences for attracting tourists? Rats, roaches, possoms, yellow jackets and bees, all cause problems. People can die from bee stings. Whose fault would it be if swarms of beens and yellow jackets were hanging out at the memorials and monuments stinging all those who felt they had a God-given rights as flag waving Americans to be there, even though those places were being maintained by the gubbmint?

  11. Rick Bentley

    It’s worth stressing again that the Park Police who risked their lives during this incident yesterday, including the ones hit by the car, are/were WORKING WITHOUT PAY. Three cheers for the m*therf*cking Republican Party for making that heppen, even in the absence of any defined goals for that acftion. And for the smiling buffoons at FOX News who are enjoying the spectacle.

    1. From what I saw, it was just another car-chase day for the foxites.

      It is worth stressing that the Park Police risked their lives yesterday. I am assuming that the Secret Service and the Capitol police are still on with pay?

  12. BSinVA

    The right wing is continuously spouting what this founding father or that Constitutional framer originally intended for our country. Do they honestly believe that the founding fathers envisioned a democracy which shuts down because neither political party will flinch ?

    1. Yes, that is what many people erroneously believe. In actuality, many of the founding fathers were the upper class intellectuals with two much time on their hands. (Ah…. the blessings of slavery) A great deal of their writings were abstracts and simply bloviating to their friends. They didn’t have TV.

      I often think we give many of them too much credit for brilliance.

      I know, I just committed heresy. gasp!!!!!! (and this coming from a girl who grew up in the shadow of TJ)

  13. Pat.Herve

    and for Rand Paul and Mitch McConnel – it is all about the polling and the optics – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gXIgAAN3o4&feature=youtube_gdata

  14. BSinVA

    I can’t verify that either of these reports are true, but: a caller to Cspan reported that his grandson is serving in Afghanistan. Prior to the shut-down, they were getting hot meals when they returned from their mission. Now because the contractors are not getting paid because of the shut-down, the soldiers are getting MRE’s to eat. Another caller said her husband is a Federal firefighter in Estes Park, Colorado. He has been furloughed because of the shut-down of the National Park System. Tourism to the park has vanished as has the income of Estes Park. She had to close her coffee shop and she and her husband now get by on whatever she can sell online.

    1. Most of Estes Park was taken out by that flood and so were the roads getting to it. There was supposed to be an elk fest there which also got cancelled. So much for any economic recover. @BS you know the source of all my Colorado info….She was some sort of pissed off that she couldn’t go to the elk fest.

  15. Starryflights

    You know what? If this POS congressman is gonna act like this, and if I were a federal cop, I’d say fine, I’ll just go on home. And the next time some deranged individual tries to breach the Capitol barrier, I would say ” Okay congressman, this is your problem, you deal with it.”

    1. It would be very tempting to me to do just that. right now, I want everyone including the POS democrats who won’t fund the government on garbage detail to clean up around those monuments. Who do they think is going to do it?

  16. Rick Bentley

    I read in a WaPo article that the Park Police are working, but not being paid. Haven’t heard much about that.

    have we talked here about the fact that 70% of the NSA and the CIA are on furlough? The Republicans lead us to build this massive security apparatus, now don’t want to pay to staff it. No logic, no endgame/strategy, no common sense.

  17. clueless

    He was looking for his sound bite to look tough for his base back home. This guy is worse than a POS. his @Cargosquid

  18. @Rick Bentley
    Correction.

    All Capitol police are essential. They are paid.

    1. Rick said the Park Police. They are not all labeled ‘essential.’

      It was I who mentioned secret service and capitol police. I said I assumed all were considered essential. Not all might be. Not sure.

  19. @Moon-howler
    When things are barricaded across the country in such a way as to inconvenience people…things that don’t cost the gov’t a dime and/or actually is run privately….

    When they try to barricade Mount Vernon….
    Close off only the popular trails into the parks in the Appalachian…regardless of campers, etc already in there….
    Etc..etc…etc….its happening across the nation.

    Yes. I believe that the White House is doing this on purpose merely to influence the politics. And yes…HE is part of the refusal to fund the gov’t. The House has already compromised. Now its their turn.

    1. The House refused to send down an appropriations bill that funds the entire government. Every bill has had some caveat.

      Who is going to stock those bathrooms with toilet paper, soap, and clean up after people who aren’t good guests? Who is going to take out the trash?
      It isn’t about just going into a monument. That’s just it. The tea party sees the surface. They don’t see that there are all sorts of support systems that go with those monuments. Lights, trash, bathrooms, lawn work, pest control, gardening, fertilizing, support staff you never see, scheduling…the list goes on. Those things cost money and aren’t funded if the government is closed. Once again, simple answers for complex subjects. That statement defines the tea party. Waving a flag and a pocket Constitution just doesn’t cut it. Its like reading the cliff notes rather than the novel. Its like reading the chapter titles and headings rather than the textbook.

      Why are you fighting this? Your people did it. Your people are gleeful about shutting down the government. We have seen comment after comment saying so and we have seen lots of pictures of a bunch of politicians almost hi-fiving each other, grinning ear to ear. You have stated time and time again your disdain for the federal government. In your eyes, you don’t like it or need it. Stop bitching.

      Trying to focus on Mt. Vernon or the WWII Memorial is sort of like throwing out shiny objects trying to divert our attention off the fact that some really serious things have been stopped in their tracks.

  20. Pat.Herve

    Cargosquid :
    @Rick Bentley
    Correction.
    All Capitol police are essential. They are paid.

    A more accurate statement is that they Will be paid. In the meantime they will not be receiving a paycheck until the budget is resolved.

  21. Emma

    I just don’t get how anyone can be so flippant about this situation. Both sides are acting like their manhoods will shrink if they give any ground at all, and we’re just pawns in their stupid game. Neither side is expressing any concern for the human cost of all this. In all likelihood, both sides have polled and cynically determined that Federal workers’ votes won’t count for much anyway in the end.

    1. Probably. The only one with nothing to lose is the President. He can’t run for another term.

      800,000 people should count for something.

  22. Kelly_3406

    Here is a set of funding bills that have or will soon be voted on in the House:

    H.J. Res. 75—Nutrition Assistance for Low-Income Women and Children Act
    H.J. Res. 76—Nuclear Weapon Security & Non-Proliferation Act
    H.J. Res. 77—Food and Drug Safety Act
    H.J. Res. 78—Preserving Our Intelligence Capabilities Act
    H.J. Res. 79—Border Safety & Security Act
    H.J. Res. 80—American Indian and Alaska Native, Health, Education, and Safety Act
    H.J. Res. 82—National Weather Monitoring Act
    H.J. Res. 83—Impact Aid for Local Schools Act
    H.J. Res. 84—Head Start for Low-Income Children Act
    H.J. Res. 85—National Emergency and Disaster Recovery Act
    H.R. 3223—Federal Employee Retroactive Pay Fairness Act

  23. middleman

    The audacity of a Republican congressman complaining about ANY part of the government being shut down is truly breathtaking. All the house has to do is to take a vote on the budget sent to them by the Senate, and the government (and all the parks) opens tomorrow. Just allow a majority vote. The GOP is undermining democracy and going against the will of the American people.

  24. Lyssa

    It’s gotten to the point where my uber conservative life long republican spouse is washing his hands of the GOP and planning to re-register independent. This is like watching him convert to a new religion.

    Most voters don’t count anymore – it’s the big donors that count.

  25. BSinVA

    I now call on18 or so Republican members of the House of Representatives to change their party affiliation from Republican to Democrat. That would put the Dems in charge, would remove the current House Speaker, and would end the government shutdown. Once the shut down is over and a clean CR passed, and the debt ceiling issue is resolved, they could change back to GOP and move forward with legislating.

  26. Kelly_3406

    The Congressman may have been a little abrupt, but he was also absolutely correct. The National Park Service chose to have more rangers present than on a normal day with the government open. It spent more time and money to close the memorial than it would have taken to leave it open. A park ranger has also stated that they were told to make things as difficult as possible for the public.

    http://p.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/3/pruden-the-cheap-tricks-of-the-game/

    Middleman is absolutely correct: the Republicans could surrender by passing the Senate budget and the government would open by Monday. But the converse is true as well. The Senate could also surrender and pass the House funding bills. Both sides are playing hardball.

    Let’s at least have an honest discussion about the way forward. Otherwise we are in 1984 Truthspeak territory. I get that most on this blog prefer the Senate solution, but let’s not lose sight of the fact that recent polls show that most Americans are against ObamaCare (people who think Obamacare does not go far enough are counted in the favor column). Most Americans also do not want the government shutdown.

    So in a way both parties are partially thwarting the will of the American people and it’s a high-stakes game of chicken with government workers caught in the middle.

  27. @Kelly

    You think it is acceptable for a member of Congress to upbraid and chastise a park ranger who is doing her job? Would you find it acceptable for him to do that to a member of the armed services who was just doing her job?

    Park rangers don’t set policy. They must follow the chain of command. She has a boss. Why should she have been publically challenged by an elected official. He was dead wrong to behave like that.

    As for the other mythological disgruntled employee who said they were told to make it difficult on everyone…where is the documentation? I simply don’t believe it. I could pull rabbits out of my ears here too. It doesn’t make it true.

    The author of that piece in the Washington Times also attributed the recent violence in DC by Miriam Carey to some ‘fact ‘ she was mad at someone. Simple answers to complex issues again. Pruden needs to take a basic look at mental illness and psychoses and then tell us Ms. Carey was simply mad at someone. Holy Cow! Talk about a fugue from reality.

    Bad manners is always unacceptable. Neugebauer remains a bully and Pruden remains out of touch.

  28. Kelly_3406

    I get that the Congressman was a little rude. But just as the military is expected to disobey illegal or immoral orders, the NPS serves a higher purpose than the political hacks who are calling the shots. The memorials were not closed during the 1995 shutdown, so they should not be closed now. The NPS may not be available to assist/maintain during the shutdown, but they certainly should not be obstructing these veterans. The Park Rangers should not be allowing themselves to be used as political tools to deny access to open-air memorials.

  29. blue

    Well said Kelly.

    I feel for Federal employees who, for the sake of their jobs, are doing as directed. The problem is that bureaucrates are our first defense. Federal employees have long argued that the public and taxpayers should not take it out on them, in terms of wages/benefits and overall numbers. Actions like this and the Administration’s decree that Sunday services cannot be provided to our military on base will only make this worse. The historical precedent of bureaucrates just taking orders is ominous.

    1. @Blue

      Services will be held at Quantico.

      Kelly is cutting the congressman some slack by not clearly stating that he was being a rude bully. The banana republicans have shown nothing but disdain for public employees, accusing them of feeding at the ‘public teat.’ Now these people have gone a step further by insulting them to their face. Who can forget Scott Walker’s derisive remarks about the public employees in Wisconsin? The Congressman’s nasty comments are simply an extension of this prevailing attitude.

      Its too late to start making nice with all the nation’s public employees. They aren’t all lazy, over-paid imbeciles who don’t give a rat’s ass as the current conservative political climate suggests.

    2. It really wasn’t the administration who decreed that there can’t be Sunday services on military bases. Its all a very specific set of rules depending on funding of contract workers.

      http://manassas.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/priest-can-say-mass-at-quantico-despite-shutdown-manassas?ncid=newsltuspatc00000001&evar4=picks-3-post&newsRef=true

  30. Emma

    I am very relieved that the golf course at Andrews Air Force Base has remained open. That is a critical function, far more important than NIH clinical trials or WIC administration. It warms my heart to see the time and thought that was put into prioritizing Federal staffing levels during this shutdown.

  31. “It’s a cheap way to deal with the situation,” an angry Park Service ranger in Washington says of the harassment. “We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.”

    Apparently, at least ONE Park Ranger IS ashamed.

    “The Park Service appears to be closing streets on mere whim and caprice. The rangers even closed the parking lot at Mount Vernon, where the plantation home of George Washington is a favorite tourist destination. That was after they barred the new World War II Memorial on the Mall to veterans of World War II. But the government does not own Mount Vernon; it is privately owned by the Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association.”

    “If you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it?” the reporter asked.
    “Why would we want to do that?” Mr. Reid snapped back.

    http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/3/pruden-the-cheap-tricks-of-the-game/

    Remember all the calls for “civility” by the left?
    http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/10/66593/

    1. You are just full of shiny objects there, Cargo. Not buying in to it.

      Let’s talk about what we saw of film. I don’t think it was morphed or cut. The Congressman hasn’t denied he was a bully. Contrast that to some nameless employee who may or may not have been quoted correctly. Sorry, not buying it, especially from Pruden who thinks Miriam Carey was just mad at someone.

      I heard the entirety of what Harry Reid said. He was answering a broader question but I will concede his timing and choice of words were unfortunate. It isn’t even comparable to what Neugebauer did which was to publically berate an underling in public.

      The real question is, should any member of congress who voted in such a way that the government closed due to lack of funding, go out and heckle the employees who are doing what they have been told to do by their bosses?

      that isn’t how the real world is supposed to work. In the real world, people do what their bosses tell them to do. If they don’t, they are fired.

  32. @Emma
    Well…its very important that the President have somewhere to go to relax…you don’t want a stressed out President, do you?

  33. @Moon-howler
    I already answered the “real” question and moved onto the broader topic. Why is the gov’t SPENDING money to spread the pain…. why is the gov’t closing off open air, 24 hour, non-attended memorials, trails, private property, etc? The WWII Memorial is funded privately.

    http://www.qando.net/?p=15738&cpage=1#comment-176886
    Excerpt:
    The National World War II Memorial was funded almost entirely by private contributions, as specified in Public Law 103-32.
    Remaining funds are held on deposit with the U.S. Treasury in a National WWII Memorial Trust Fund. The funds will be used by the American Battle Monuments Commission solely to benefit the World War II Memorial.

    So…the feds need to stop being petulant and remove the barricades. I hope today’s Rally swamps DC and the Mall in support of the vets.

    Heck…the feds have even added code to websites so that automatic sites can no longer be seen.

    This is shut down theater.

    1. The WWII vets are allowed in now. Why this particular momument? Why not the Jefferson, the Lincoln, the MLK memorial?

      It doesn’t matter where the funds came from for it. Most of the monuments were built from private funds. The WWII memorial sits on federal lands. It is paid for by federal funds. It uses federal employees to operate the memorial. How quickly you are willing to over look all that.

      It reminds me of my granddaughter telling her mother that she is an adult and that she can do what she wants. She lives at home and eats their food and uses their transportation. But she’s an adult. hmmmmmmmmmmmm

  34. Pat.Herve

    Previous shutdowns have been different. In previous shutdown there have been appropriations bills that had passed before the shutdown meaning that not all services were affected. In this shutdown there have been no previous bills passed to fund any part of government – even our soldiers were not funded until a recently passed bill (right around shutdown time).

    All of this could have been prevented – if the R’s had allowed the budgets to go to conference as it should have and as the R’s had campaigned on. I thought it was the R’s that did not want the government to function on CR’s anymore.

  35. blue

    I suspect that all of this could have been prevented if the new dictator Reid had allowed at least a single vote on any of the partial funding bills. Representative gov’t now exists only in the House. The Senate, for all their talking points, has not been allowed to vote anything up or down. And, as you know Pat, it is only under a CR that everything is rolled into one “clean” bill. Several appropriations bills are passed individually under “normal” circumstances before going to their respective conferences. Anything else is Demopukeagogory

    1. Actually the House is far from being representative. Who are you kidding. With the most recent gerrymandering, the states have been carved up into unrecognizable fiefdoms of teapartydom. Anyone not complying with extremism will get primaried.

  36. Presented without comment from http://hotair.com/archives/2013/10/03/also-closed-due-to-shutdown-for-some-reason-the-u-s-military-cemetery-in-normandy/

    As Politico reported Thursday, during the 1995 government shutdown congressional Republicans and President Bill Clinton were able to agree to a “stopgap bill to assure funding for veterans, welfare recipients and the District of Columbia.”

    Why won’t Senate Democrats and President Obama agree now to any more stopgap funding bills?

    Senator Chuck Schumer of New York told THE WEEKLY STANDARD following a noon press conference Thursday that in 1995 “it was a different world.” Why is that? “Because we have a Tea Party,” Schumer said without elaborating as he walked away.

  37. blue

    Here’s an idea. To prevent any future opportunity for the NPS to be used as a political pawn, the Parks should be retuned to the States, at their – the States – option.

    1. The federal parks don’t belong to the states now. The great thing about the NPS is that they preserve the lands, parks and monuments for all of us to enjoy. I am as welcome in the Grand Canyon as an Arizonian.

    1. On fedral property. Why don’t you encourage your people to fund the government. The monuments would be open.

      I don’t understand the urge to violate rules all the time.

      Apparently its ok for the government to foot all the bills and do all the work.

      I simply don’t understand this attitude. Surely you know there is more to the upkeep that that sidewalk? It’s closed. Why is that so hard to understand?

  38. Lyssa

    Anyone simple enough to blame one person or a select group of people for this mess is just that – simple and should stop talking.

  39. @Moon-howler
    We are encouraging the people to fund the government, but the Senate and President are refusing to do so.

    Upkeep? When the surrounding area is open? When it is not a manned memorial? Why not just barricade the entire mall?

    1. Not really. Your people promised their base to get rid of Obamacare. That is what this is all about. If you wanted to open up the govt. again it would happen. A clean CR right now would to it. No holding the ACA hostage. To say anything else is a lie

  40. blue

    Moon,

    I and others here do encourage the Senate demogoges to fund and open the government. There is a long list of opportunities for the Senate to open as much or as little as they like. They have instead decided to shut down the government rather than allow any votes on common sense amendments to Obamacare. Worse, they have used political muscle and fear of retribution to force federal employees to do crazy things like close monuments and, today, even the ocean to fishing. There has been a conscious effort to unecessarilly hurt businesses, soldiers, veterans and others and my fear now is that the federal employees are going to take the long term hit here, not the Administration – all for preventing any changes to Obamacare..

  41. Lyssa

    Because, from a law enforcement perspective nut jobs are expected to seep through the groundwater and try to make statements. That’s why.

  42. Censored bybvbl

    One way to take future action against this brinksmanship is to quit joining parties and register as an independent. Let the parties cater to you because they’re never certain where your loyalties lie. Even though Virginia doesn’t register voters by party, you can always quit donating to them – just send your bucks to causes you support instead. The problem with this approach is that you’ll forever have to be cognizant of who is behind propositions, advertisements, etc. I’d be surprised if half the Teabaggers know who bankrolls their positions or groups, for example.

  43. Emma

    @Lyssa
    Best quote of the entire week.

  44. Pat.Herve

    @blue
    blue,

    it all sounds great and wonderful except that the R’s have prevented the budget from going to conference (by voting 17 times in the Senate), have allowed this manufactured crisis to exist and do not want to amend or change Obamacare – they want to fully defund Obamacare with no plan b in place. Boehner made a speaker pledge to no longer negotiate with Obama back in January – so why would we be expecting him to negotiate?

    They (Congress) just keep allowing each matter to get to the edge and allow the time to expire so that they can manufacture a crisis and ‘have to do something before midnight’. This is no way to run a country. And there is plenty of blame to go around. Problem is that most of us do not put too much effort into remembering the recent history and some of us put too much effort into remembering past history.

  45. @Pat.Herve
    Funny….the House is perfectly willing to negotiate. They stated that they will accept a one year delay.

    Now its HIS turn. I don’t expect him to negotiate. I expect both him and the Senate to use this shutdown that they want. I expect them to let the media push the issue for them, regardless of how bad the Obamacare system turns out to be. I expect them to spread as much pain as possible on obvious things…and shut down the entire gov’t even if the House sends forth individual bills.

    The Democrats want this shutdown because they believe that the press can make them look good.

  46. Lyssa

    @Emma

    It was the Dels “fix” I had a week ago 🙂

    1. Is that code for something?

  47. George S. Harris

    @punchak
    He is Mitch McConnell’s stalking horse.

    @Cargosquid
    The House wants to delay it one year so the Republicans will have an election issue. It seems to me that all the people trying to sign up is evidence that the Republican claim that, “Americans don’t want this”, is a bunch of male bovine merde. Remember Cargo–a good definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results each time–we are at something like 44 or 45 times the Republicans have tried to defund the ACA. They don’t want it to work because if it does, which I fully expect it will, they have shot themselves in the foot one again.

  48. Emma

    @Lyssa I’m jealous. That would be just the thing for the sore throat I’m nursing this weekend.

  49. @George S. Harris
    People are signing up because they are told that they have to.

    1. People who are forced to do something they don’t want to do are generally not first in line to do it. Those with a gun to their heads generally drag their feet and put off the inevitable rather than signing up the first week.

      Cargo, lots of people want it and are grateful. Many folks don’t feel like you do.

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