IT LOOKS AS THOUGH THE DEMOCRATS ARE GOING TO SHUT DOWN THE GOVERNMENT

Politico.com reports that Senate Democrats have decided to call the House GOP's bluff and refuse to approve the CR with the $61 billion in cuts and the key language defunding NPR and CPB and the restrictions on reg writing for Obamacre and EPA's jihad against American business.

It had to come to this. Given the numerous fainting spells suffered by old guard GOPers in the past, Harry Reid was bound to push back and the GOP must now allow non-essential federal functions to shut down. The House GOP freshmen should be prepared to desert the party if the party deserts them and the voters that sent them there.

MSM will amplify the false screams of the left during any shutdown, but to refuse to go to the mat now means losing the debt ceiling and the FY 2012 battles before they begin. The GOP cannot surrender on the four key "limiting amendments" either, as these represent crucial aspects of November's mandate.

We have to hope that to this point John Boehner and Eric Cantor have been playing a longer game, smiling and emphasizing sweet reason as a set-up to their "more-in-sorrow-than-in-anger" announcement that but for DoD, Homeland Security, other essential services and the issuance of the entitlement checks, the federal government is out of money and on break.

The country has to be given a choice: A small series of cuts --only $61 billion out of $3.5 trillion in FY 2011 spending-- and a set of crucial reforms, or no change at all.

Sincerely,


Hugh Hewitt

from

Hugh Hewitt