Government Shut-Down Is No Surprise

I have lost what little respect I had for the mainstream media and the political pundits in these last few days. Every since this new Congress was seated last January they have been telling us that the Republicans and Democrats would finally compromise on the budget and avert a government shut-down -- because none of them wanted a shut-down. Even as late as yesterday they were registering surprise that a shut-down now seems imminent.

I only have one question for them. Haven't you been paying attention? This impending shut-down should come as no surprise to anyone. The teabaggers in the Republican Party have been demanding a shut-down, and the Republican politicians have been promising them they would do it since before the last election. Rep. Pence even got a standing ovation from a crowd of teabaggers the other day when he told them there would be a shut-down.

For the last couple of days the media has been all agog about meetings between President Obama, Senator Reid and Speaker Boehner. They seemed to think those ridiculous meetings would produce some miracle compromise. That can't happen for one basic reason. Speaker Boehner doesn't speak for the House Republicans. They let him have the speakership, which they considered largely ceremonial, but they never ceded authority to him to speak for them. And Boehner knows it. He's just trying to keep some shred of dignity in the process, but knows he can't change the minds of the right-wing teabaggers in the House.

There will be a shut-down because the teabagger base of the Republican Party demands it. After a rather lengthy shut-down the Republicans in the House might finally compromise, but they must show their base they tried as hard as they could -- and they can't do that without shutting down the government. Compromising right now would only result in making their base unhappy (and maybe giving them an opponent in next year's primary).

None of this is any surprise. The teabaggers and their elected representatives have not tried to hide their demand for no compromise. It was always there for anyone who cared to look. The fact that any media members or political pundits are surprised just shows once again their incompetence.