I've felt a little better about prospects the Republicans would stop their de-fund/default-the-government policy since the Kochs came out and renounced the tactic. It seems on the surface the brothers don't have a war chest ready to see that Democrats get blamed.
This means this entire thing was just one huge, one-shot fuck up by Conservatives and a more costly one than choosing Romney as the winner in 2012. Considering how long they had planned to do this, and how prominent the people behind it were (Ed Meese, for one), the incompetence of this stunt is stunning. The GOP is truly the party of the stupid, where Fundamentalists, Creationists and Global Warming deniers don't feel intellectually threatened.
Continued beneath the divide.
With approval polls plunging, it's beginning to dawn on the House GOP that they aren't going to be rewarded for "fighting the good fight." To them, "the good fight" means endangering the whole world economy rather than give Americans health care, something citizens in the rest of the world consider part of their citizenship.
With no prepared ad campaign behind it, the Republican Party is sunk.
Now, the only question is, how do the Repubs walk this back? They've blown 2014 election and have accelerated their decline. The only power they have now is the shutdown. They're going to want something, anything before they give it up.
But equally, President Obama can't concede anything to them, because what they're doing is lawless, and must not be repeated under any circumstances.
So, our government might be vapor locked.
This is what Barbara Tuchman called "folly." Like Vietnam, like Iraq, like Afghanistan. It's a mistake that once made, becomes emotionally impossible to reverse.
The Republican party, the party of business, might yet bring down the economy of the world just from fanaticism and stupidity.
However, it is possible that my evaluation of the psychology here is incorrect. It's the first time I've felt that hope since this began.
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