Ok, so the GOP is willing to shut down our whole government if the Affordable Care Act goes into effect. But their talking point on it is so absurd as to be offensive:

Even Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), despite his previous criticism of attempts to defund Obamacare through a continuing resolution to fund the government, argued that the new gambit might pay dividends. “It’s up to the president — he can shut down the government, but he’s delayed a lot of [Obamacare] already,” Cole told reporters Saturday. “I mean, he’s delayed part after part after part of it.”

There is no universe in which this charge makes any sense, not even in the land of fantasy. If the Republicans say “We will shut down the government unless you do x”, it’s not anybody else’s fault if they follow through with the threat they made. We’re past the point of the governmental bodies voting based on a budget’s (or bill’s) merit, but instead to avoid potential extraneous consequences threatened by the GOP. The GOP: they don’t deal with threats, but they’ll sure as shit make them – and then blame you if you don’t cave to those threats. It is the mantra of the terrorist to say they’re not content letting democracy work its course, but you need to do what they demand or else. But most terrorists don’t have the gall to then say the consequences are their target’s fault for not doing what was demanded.

And there will be about 18% of the population who, if they heard someone else use that line of reasoning, would shriek “TERRORIST!” and demand we deploy the full might of the United States military, pausing only to replace their clips, and be satisfied only when a smoldering crater that used to be our enemies and the innocents who happened to be in close proximity to them remained. But when the Tea Party says “comply or else” then it’s patriotism and the people who don’t negotiate with terrorists are the bad guys. Even in his most outlandish myths, Jesus never pulled a miraculous switch like that.

Seriously, if someone has kidnapped something (or someone) you loved and said “Do as we say or it will be destroyed” who could possibly blame you if the kidnapper decides to pull the trigger? But that’s the scenario the Republicans have crafted with the government being funded and Obama.

This is the GOP who presumably loves the ideal of democracy. Well, here it is. Sometimes Americans like legislation that you don’t. Sometimes laws you don’t like get passed. We need to rule by vote, not by holding the government hostage when people vote in ways we don’t like.

This is being perpetrated by 80 members of the House (a body of 233 total members). The moderates could stand up to them and pass a clean budget bill, but it turns out that moderate Republicans have the integrity of a toddler (sorry, that’s being too generous) and the spine of a jellyfish (ditto).