The latest Shutdown Theater production opened to mixed reviews in Washington, as it became clear the Democrats were unable to decide between producing a comedic interlude or a full-on Shakespearean tragedy.
It's sort of like the movie version of Flipper, with a miscast Paul Hogan as Porter Ricks, the uncle of Sandy Ricks, played by Elijah Wood (pre "Frodo"). In the 1996 film, Hogan plays a park ranger in the Florida Keys, and Wood's mother sent him to live with Uncle Paul after a divorce. Sandy has a real attitude problem (think Frodo as The Fonz) until a super-intelligent dolphin, who understands English and is smarter than either Wood or Hogan, shows up and sets the world right.
This is unlike the delightful, heartening 1964 TV series, in which Porter Ricks lost his wife and was raising a preteen son, Sandy, on his own (as well as a seven-year-old son named Bud). I was ten at the time, and all the kids on my block were begging their parents for a dolphin.
The biggest problem with the film was that it couldn't decide whether it wanted to be a comedy or a tragedy. In the end, it wasn't that funny, and Paul Hogan was a horrible father figure.
The Democrats' most significant problem for the shutdown is that they don't have a Flipper character for comedic relief. Instead, we have the unedifying spectacle of politicians trying to be humorous while talking about Republicans starving poor people to death.
We can expect the bodies to begin to drop in a matter of days, according to Democrats.
In fact, the Democrats have totally lost their train of thought. The Republican House has passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) that will keep the government running until almost Thanksgiving. There are no trap doors or poison pills in the CR. Democrats want the Republicans to negotiate now instead of passing the CR, avoiding a shutdown, and negotiating later.
This is an untenable position, and the Democrats know it. Rather than give the Democrats a ready-made platform to spout and sputter about Republicans wanting to end Gramma's health insurance, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has canceled all House sessions next week. The Senate will sit around waiting to see if they have to vote on a CR, but House members are scattering to the four winds, making any quick denouement to the Shutdown Theater production unlikely.
The House won’t return to session next week as Speaker Mike Johnson had previously indicated, according to a notice made during Friday’s pro forma session.
The move came after the Senate voted a fourth time Friday to reject a House-passed continuing resolution that would break the ongoing government shutdown. Johnson and House GOP leaders have argued that measure, which would extend federal funding through Nov. 21, is the only viable path out of the standoff.
Johnson said at a news conference earlier Friday that “the House will come back into session and do its work as soon as Chuck Schumer allows us to reopen the government,” referring to the top Senate Democrat.
Also speaking ahead of the announcement, House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole said he agreed with an argument House GOP leaders have been making in private: “Why would we come back to just come back?” Doing so, he added, would be “negotiating against yourself.”
"The House did its job. The House sent a bipartisan, very simple, very conventional, 24-page continuing resolution to keep the lights on," Speaker Johnson said. "And it's been rejected by the Senate."
Some smart, capable, driven reporter might want to ask Senator Schumer why the Democrats can't sign off on the CR now and negotiate what they want in the final funding bill over the next seven weeks. That way, the government will remain open, the question of which side has more leverage will flip, and Democrats are likely to get a deal of some kind on Obamacare subsidies.
Unfortunately, there are no smart, capable, driven reporters who are curious enough to ask a simple, straightforward question of the Democratic leader.
Shutdown theater is likely to run through at least next week.
The Schumer Shutdown is here. Rather than put the American people first, Chuck Schumer and the radical Democrats forced a government shutdown for healthcare for illegals. They own this.
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