Brutal Headlines for Noem Two Weeks Into #GOPshutdown

“…We therefore call upon all voters of the Unites States to demand accountability and responsibility from their elected members of Congress, to throw out those holding the government hostage to their own demands, and to elect more moderate men and women who can, at the very least, pass a budget and keep our government from driving off a cliff.”

“…There is usually a ton of blame to spread around when Washington behaves badly, but in this instance, the Republicans, particularly in the U.S. House, richly deserve to own most of this mess. And they are getting the kind of limited, shackled government they apparently want.”

“Another irony: President Barack Obama was widely criticized when he directed the Department of Justice to stop enforcing the Defense of Marriage Act. Republicans told him, “You can’t pick which laws you’ll enforce!”

“But the Affordable Care Act — lazily known as “Obamacare” —  is a law. It has been passed. It has already started.

“Republicans, simply, are choosing which laws they will enforce.

“Ironic.

“And now, the government has stopped working because House Republicans demanded that the Democratic-controlled Senate defund or delay parts of the health care overhaul. Only then would they pass a bill that would keep the government running.”

“There are ways to repeal laws in this country, and they don’t involve a shutdown. Republicans don’t have the votes to get that job done the right way, so they’ve concocted this other method of stopping work in Washington.”

“I suppose it makes little sense for us to expect our lawmakers to act sensibly, like the rest of us likely would try to do in this current situation, and actually fix problems and avoid the disasters that disrupt the country and hurt so many people — to try to hammer out agreements and make the mechanism of this nation work. We, at least, would be committed to do the jobs we were entrusted to do, or so I want to think.

“That’s because we are not like lawmakers.

“And this week, at least, there’s no higher praise I’d care to own.”

“…Nice going, guys. You lost big after newspapers like this one warned prophetically that the 2012 election would be a referendum on Obamacare.

“So this is what’s next – putting a gun to the head of the government and pulling the trigger? Throwing a wrench in the machinery that delivers services to the American people because the people were too dumb to vote for your party last time out? How smart is that?”