As has been proven in the past, Republicans lie at a staggering rate. Media types often have trouble remembering all of them. So in an effort to help the media, Americans, and politicians themselves, here is a short list of the Republican lies from the past weekend.
Lie #1: Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) states he did not support a clean resolution to balance the budget, even though he did. He later tried to say he was misquoted by some liberal types, but Huffpost had an audio tape of the remark. He then changed his story to say that he no longer supported a clean resolution now that the shutdown had begun.
Lie #2: Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said the suggestion that members of his own party are unhappy with him for pursuing a fight over Obamacare into a government shutdown had not hurt the Republican Brand. Cruz said, “Not remotely, but I also think far too many people are worried about politics” in the shutdown fight. Evidently Cruz failed the class reading polls 101 for politicians when he was in candidate school.
“The Washington-Post/ABC poll, out Monday, found that 70 percent of Americans believe the Republican Party is doing a poor job handling federal budget negotiations, up from 63 percent just before the government shutdown began. Of those sampled, 51 percent disapprove “strongly” of Republicans in Congress.
Lie #3: Speaker of the House John Boehner states he doesn’t have the votes for passage of a clean continuing resolution. Except that he does. “There are not votes in the House to pass a clean CR,” Boehner said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week.” Huffpost reported there are 21 House Republicans willing to vote for a clean continuing resolution, more than the 17 votes needed for passage, However, Boehner states “The American people expect in Washington when we have a crisis like this, that the leaders will sit down and have a conversation,” Boehner said. It’s a crisis made possible in the minds of Republicans by insisting a continuing resolution defund Obamacare. A law that has already passed Congress and was vetted by the Supreme Court. The last thing Americans want is for Congress to sit down and have a conversation, they want them to pass a damn budget.
Today Obama called him on his lie. “If Republicans and Speaker Boehner are saying there are not enough votes, then they should prove it,” he said in a speech at FEMA headquarters. “Let the bill go to the floor and lets see what happens. Just vote…”
Three lies in the last several days. You can see why it’s so difficult to keep up. Republicans surmise that if they lie often and fast enough, Americans won’t notice. Voters should be outraged that the Republican party treats them with such disdain.