The above headline is from a post by Rush Limbaugh, and of course he’s right, but I’d take it further. The GOP has never recovered from the school lunch controversy in the mid 1990s. It’s what I’ve been writing about — they don’t understand communications, have never been mass communicators, and aren’t in the information war at all. Until they wake up and realize that public opinion can and needs to be shaped — and figure out ways to do so — nothing is going to change.
Here’s a short excerpt from Rush and then a few other notable links follow.
The Republicans in Congress — and I would say that this is probably true of the Republicans in Washington. They are suffering shell shock.
They are not moved at all by Obama’s plummeting poll numbers. They are not moved at all by the problems people are having with Obamacare. They are in shell shock. I’ve described it as posttraumatic stress disorder. Whatever, they are literally afraid of one thing, and that is being blamed again for the government shutdown. That was the objective, to make sure there wasn’t a government shutdown, and it didn’t matter what was required.
If it meant funding Obamacare, which has happened, that’s what they’d do. It’s this simple. The Republicans didn’t like the idea of defunding Obamacare. They didn’t like the idea of a partial government shutdown. They’re living in a different world. They believe that the country despises and hates them.
They believe that Obama is still universally loved and adored and that there is nothing they can do to overcome that.
They think that anything that goes against Obama’s way is going to result in them being blamed, and it’s an election year next year, and they don’t want to get anywhere near another government shutdown. No matter the principle involved. No matter the issues involved. They just weren’t gonna go there. I’ve never seen anything like this. I have never seen this degree of shell shock or whatever else you want to call it.
VIDEO: David Stockman and Rick Santelli — The Budget deal a ‘joke and betrayal’
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Rand Paul: Budget deal ‘shameful,’ ‘huge mistake’
Rubio: Budget Deal Threatens American Dream
The budget deal promises savings but just spends more
Don’t Be Fooled: The Murray/Ryan Budget Deal Clearly Raises Taxes
