Steve Kornacki: Republicans Flunk Government Shutdown History
[Steve Kornacki is Salon's news editor.]
In the same way that many of them still -- after all these years and against all available evidence -- would rather chalk up Bill Clinton's 1992 victory to the presence of Ross Perot than to their own deficiencies, there are Republicans who still refuse to accept the reality of what happened when they forced a shutdown of the federal government in 1995.
That's probably the best way to understand the eagerness with which so many on the right are now openly agitating for another GOP-forced shutdown.
The idea, of course, hinges on this fall's elections essentially producing a repeat of the 1994 midterms, with Republicans winning back control of Congress -- setting up a partisan balance of power similar to the one that existed in '95, when Clinton was president, Newt Gingrich was House speaker and Bob Dole was the Senate’s majority leader.
Then, the GOP would do what it did in '95: take a concept that polls well, fold it into the budget and send it to the president’s desk, daring him to shut down the government by vetoing it. Back in '95, the hot idea was a balanced budget, an issue that had played an unusually prominent role in the 1992 presidential race. In 2011, it would be healthcare, with Republicans now talking of using the budget to zero out funding for the aspects of the new law that fare the worst in polling. You can already hear the attacks now: President Obama wants to force you to buy health insurance so badly that he’ll close down the government to make it happen!...
Here’s the problem: The 1995 shutdown was a certifiable disaster for Gingrich and the GOP -- the moment they let Clinton, whose presidency had appeared over after the ’94 midterms, back into the game....
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In the same way that many of them still -- after all these years and against all available evidence -- would rather chalk up Bill Clinton's 1992 victory to the presence of Ross Perot than to their own deficiencies, there are Republicans who still refuse to accept the reality of what happened when they forced a shutdown of the federal government in 1995.
That's probably the best way to understand the eagerness with which so many on the right are now openly agitating for another GOP-forced shutdown.
The idea, of course, hinges on this fall's elections essentially producing a repeat of the 1994 midterms, with Republicans winning back control of Congress -- setting up a partisan balance of power similar to the one that existed in '95, when Clinton was president, Newt Gingrich was House speaker and Bob Dole was the Senate’s majority leader.
Then, the GOP would do what it did in '95: take a concept that polls well, fold it into the budget and send it to the president’s desk, daring him to shut down the government by vetoing it. Back in '95, the hot idea was a balanced budget, an issue that had played an unusually prominent role in the 1992 presidential race. In 2011, it would be healthcare, with Republicans now talking of using the budget to zero out funding for the aspects of the new law that fare the worst in polling. You can already hear the attacks now: President Obama wants to force you to buy health insurance so badly that he’ll close down the government to make it happen!...
Here’s the problem: The 1995 shutdown was a certifiable disaster for Gingrich and the GOP -- the moment they let Clinton, whose presidency had appeared over after the ’94 midterms, back into the game....