How unbelievable is this? (GOP shutdown talk continues)

It seems impossible to take such shenanigans that may have significant and severe economic repercussions seriously, but apparently the idiotic GOP members in Congress are serious.  Remember one of my predictions:  national parks closed in the summer.   This may be one of my more LIKELY predictions, sadly.

The other sad thing is that the Republicans are touting the line that they're so crazy they can't control themselves.  Heck of a way to try to convince the public that you are trustworthy enough to actually GOVERN the country.

Double trouble:  House GOP eyes default, shutdown

"Republican leadership officials, in a series of private meetings and conversations this past week, warned that the White House, much less the broader public, doesn’t understand how hard it will be to talk restive conservatives off the fiscal ledge."

 To which I ask, how the f*ck did these jokers get elected to national office in the first place, if they don't understand what it takes to govern responsibly?

Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee Representative: Government Shutdown Is An Option 

She was asked if her constituents supported a government shutdown. "Yes they are, yes they are. But if they want us to be thoughtful in what is done. And this is the good thing: you know, maybe it's better to keep it open so we can keep cutting it. What we want to do is look at all of these ramifications. If you were to do the shutdown, exactly what is going to continue, who is going to hold the purse?"

When asked whether she would risk default or shutdown if she didn't get the spending cuts she wanted, Blackburn said, "I think that there is a way to avoid default. If it requires shutting down certain portions of the government, let's look at that. Let's put these options on the table, be very thoughtful, but get this spending pattern broken."

 The woman is not even lucid. 

John Boehner's secret

If a solid chunk of House conservatives buy into this – and if they are backed by opinion-shaping voices on the right like Rush Limbaugh, Jim DeMint and Fox News – then Boehner should be safe. He can get a debt ceiling hike through and then force a showdown with Obama less dire overtones. In that event, the worst that would happen is that the sequester as currently constituted would go into effect, delivering a blow to the economy – but nothing nearly as severe as a default. Or the C.R. would expire and the government would shut down in the absence of a new agreement. It’s just a guess, but if the 1995 shutdown (Clinton vs. Gingrich) is any clue, public opinion would side against the GOP and quickly yield a deal more favorable to the White House’s terms. Either way, Boehner would probably get credit from the right for putting up a real fight.

Ree-dick-you-less.