Recently, the Speaker of the House John Boehner, speaking about the Government Shutdown 'bargaining chip' he was still tightly clutching, emphatically exclaimed:
"This isn't some damn game."
Could the 'brinksman' Boehner
have been right (about the "
utter seriousness" of the shutdown situation), even though poll after poll keep showing 'his side' as "the Biggest Losers"?
POLL: John Boehner And House Republicans Took A Huge Reputation Hit From The Shutdown
by John Whitesides, Reuters; businessinsider.com -- Oct. 19, 2013
[...]
The biggest political losers were Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate, House Speaker John Boehner and conservative Tea Party Republicans. House Republicans were viewed less favorably by 47 percent, Republican senators and Boehner by 45 percent and Tea Party Republicans by 44 percent.
Obama was viewed less favorably by 41 percent, but also scored best among those viewed more favorably, with 17 percent taking a more positive view of the president. House Democrats were viewed more favorably by 13 percent and Senate Democrats by 10 percent, and less favorably by 33 percent and 36 percent, respectively.
[...]
Asked who came out the winner, 17 percent said Democrats and 4 percent said Republicans. The vast majority, 70 percent, said neither side won.
[...]
Is it really still "a game" when the American people, time after showdown-time, keep ending up as the
bargaining pawns, in their complex
never-ending games of political obstruction and ideological brinksmanship?
I ask you.