The Conservative Media Can't Lose

MATT GERTZ/Media Matters For America:

On the morning of October 14, after two weeks of the GOP's government shutdown had cratered the party's standing in the polls and with the debt ceiling looming, Fox News contributor Erick Erickson sent his daily email to subscribers. "Keep Fighting" was the message from the conservative media mogul, whose strategies are frequently adopted by his party's right wing.

Erickson's daily briefing urged readers to press Senate leaders not to accept a deal that didn't defund or delay Obamacare. He also demanded House leaders pass a debt limit increase while holding firm on refusing to pass a bill to fund the government unless it is tied to defunding health care reform. And crucially, he wrote that he had just donated to two conservative PACs "at the forefront of the fight" and to primary opponents of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell and urged his readers to do the same.

The conservative wing of the party has been dictating its strategy since at least mid-August, when vocal minorities in both houses implored congressional leadership not to defund the health care law as the price for passing short-term government funding legislation. To outside observers, it seems clear that the strategy has been an abysmal failure. And yet, prominent right-wing media figures not only want to double down on that strategy, but punish members of the party who seem the least bit hesitant to pursue it.

How to explain these wildly disparate assessments? A large faction of the right-wing media -- Erickson, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity Breitbart News, and a host of others -- has become trapped in the political embodiment of a variant of the "no true Scotsman" fallacy.

Under that logical fallacy, adherents shift definitions and appeal to purity when confronted with evidence that disproves their beliefs rather than accepting reality. In this case, the right-wing media has become convinced that a central pillar of modern conservatism is that it cannot lose. Any evidence suggesting that a conservative strategy has failed is thus rejected on the grounds that either the strategy didn't really lose, or its implementers weren't true conservatives and thus betrayed the plan by failing to promote it with quite enough fervor. That mindset has locked the right-wing media and through it many activists and lawmakers into a seemingly endless pattern of crisis politics with potentially devastating consequences for the country.

We've seen this same cycle play out over the past few election cycles. Conservatism "did not lose last night"said Limbaugh the day after President Obama defied a years-long assault by the conservative media to win re-election.

The conservative media's explanation for the 2012 defeat was that Mitt Romney wasn't a real conservativeand hadn't run a campaign that sufficiently energized the conservative base. It's the same explanation they gave for John McCain's loss in 2008. It didn't matter that Romney and McCain had each moved to the right to win primary votes in ways that would end up costing them in the general election -- a true conservative would have been victorious.

Meanwhile, the party's post-mortem on the 2012 election warned that the " Republican Party needs to stop talking to itself. We have become expert in how to provide ideological reinforcement to like-minded people, but devastatingly we have lost the ability to be persuasive with, or welcoming to, those who do not agree with us on every issue." That may be good advice for a national party that needs to win a majority of voters. But the right-wing noise machine that feeds on the attention of the base has much influence and money to make in that "ideological reinforcement to like-minded people," and thus immediately rejected that advice.

Instead, they've doubled down on the type of rhetoric that failed in the last election and targeted the GOP stalwarts who point out that the party is mired in a demographic death spiral. They could not be true conservatives, because they have acknowledged that a strategy has failed for reasons other than insufficient conservatism.

This same rationale is the heart of the strategy that much of the conservative media has been promoting for the past few months. Yes, Obama was re-elected even though his health care law was a major issue during the campaign. But the GOP's failure to win that election only means that true conservatives need to push back against Obamacare with even more fervor. Tie it to funding the government, tie it to raising the debt ceiling, repeal, defund, delay, defeat the law by any means necessary and the votes will come. Only by failing to be true conservatives can the GOP truly lose.

House and Senate Republicans may respond to the last few weeks' devastating poll numbers by turning their backs on the right-wing strategy that brought both their party and their country to the precipice of disaster. But as Erickson's commentary shows, no one should expect the right-wing media to be chastened, or to admit that the strategy that they promoted was at fault. After all, ratings and pageviews are up, donations to right-wing groups are through the roof, and people like Erickson have reinforced their roles as major party players. .

Instead, we'll hear cries that if only their party's congressional leaders had been true conservatives, they would have won. We'll see the willingness to accept government shutdowns and even debt defaults become a major issue in GOP primaries and leadership fights.

It's a vicious cycle that will likely move the country closer and closer to disaster each time it is played out. Because the conservative media does not know how to admit defeat, it does not know how to accept defeats for the hope of future victories. And if it doesn't learn how to lose, sooner or later we all will.

No, House Republicans Can’t Just Skip Town And Stick Obama With A Ransom Note

BY IAN MILLHISER/Think Progress

Tuesday morning, the National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru reported that House Republicans “may pass” their proposal to end the shutdown, prevent default and exact certain concessions from Democrats, “and then skip town.” The implicit threat being that President Obama and the Senate could either take what the House Republican caucus is offering, or they can watch the American economy tumble into the chaos of a debt default.

Such a gambit, however, is unlikely to succeed — at least if the House GOP’s goal is to be far away from Washington when the bottom falls out. The Constitution gives President Obama a way to reconvene Congress, and the House rules enable Leader Nancy Pelosi’s caucus to bring Republicans back to the Capitol to do their job.

Under Article II of the Constitution, the President of the United States “may, on extraordinary occasions, convene both Houses, or either of them.” Thus, even if Speaker John Boehner managed to adjourn the House and hop on a flight to Ohio, President Obama could summon him back to DC.

The Constitution’s text places few, if any, textual constraints on this power to convene Congress, and there is at least some precedent suggesting that the president can choose the specific date when Congress should reconvene. When President Franklin Roosevelt ordered the Congress back into session on March 5, 1933, he required “the Congress of the United States to convene in extra session at the Capitol in the City of Washington on the Ninth day of March, 1933, at twelve o’clock, noon.” If House Republicans closed down shop at 11pm on Tuesday, there’s nothing in the Constitution suggesting President Obama couldn’t order them back to work at 11:01.

Of course, House Republicans are nothing if not prone to defy this President, but the House rules account for the very circumstance where lawmakers try to prevent the lower house of Congress from operating by refusing to show up to work. Under those rules, “[i]n the absence of a quorum, a majority comprising at least 15 Members . . . may compel the attendance of absent members.” Once such a vote takes place, the House Sergeant-at-Arms may send officers “to arrest those Members for whom no sufficient excuse is made and shall secure and retain their attendance.” So if House Republicans try to flee town, they can be kept at work by force of law.

None of this, of course, forces any member of the House to vote on a bill to avert default. The Constitution, unfortunately, is designed to allow a minorty party controlling just once house of Congress to block any legislation they choose, even if that legislation is necessary to avert catastrophe. But if House Republicans decide to drive the American economy over the cliff, they will at least have a front row seat to witness the mess they’ve created.

Uh Oh: Boehner’s Latest Shutdown Proposal Is Unconstitutional

BY IAN MILLHISER/Think Progress

Tuesday morning, House Republican leaders released a new plan to end the government shutdown and prevent America from defaulting on its debts if the Senate and President Obama agree to several policy demands. One of these demands would take away Members of Congress’ ability to receive an employer contribution to help pay for their health insurance, a benefit they — like all federal employees — currently enjoy.

There’s just one problem with this proposal, it’s unconstitutional unless it’s delayed for more than a year.

The Twenty-Seventh Amendment to the Constitution provides that “[n]o law, varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives, shall take effect, until an election of Representatives shall have intervened.” A law eliminating federal contributions to congressmembers’ health benefits is a law “varying the compensation for the services of the Senators and Representatives.” So it cannot take effect until after the next federal election in November 2014.

Although the text of the House GOP’s latest proposal is not yet available, they passed similar language denying health care contributions to members of Congress and other select federal employees during an earlier round of the shutdown showdown. That language contains no provision delaying the changes in congressional compensation until after the 2014 election — “[n]o Government contribution under section 8906 of title 5, United States Code, shall be provided on behalf of an individual who is a Member of Congress, congressional staff, the resident, the Vice President, or a political appointee for coverage under this subparagraph.”

Assuming the new proposal’s language tracks the language the House GOP already voted for late last month, the new proposal is unconstitutional.

Here Are The Sleaziest Things Congress Has Done During The Shutdown

 By Nick Wing/Huffington Post

We're now almost two weeks into the government shutdown, and there's been no shortage of outrage over the fact that Congress remains unable to figure out how to end it. Recent polling has shown record levels of support for replacing every member of Congress, and lawmakers are now less popular than witches and dog poop.

This level of unpopularity may not come as a surprise to anyone who's followed the actions of Congress. The shutdown, brought on late last month by House Republicans who insisted that any measure to fund the government must also delay or dismantle Obamacare, has taken a nationwide toll on federal workers and programs. With around 800,000 federal employees furloughed without pay and programs for veterans, women and children increasingly becoming hobbled by the congressional impasse, lawmakers have been more successful at upsetting the people they serve than at ending the shutdown.

Here are some of the sleaziest things members of Congress have done so far:

Grandstand at the World War II Memorial.

The government shutdown threatened to ruin the plans of a group of World War II veterans who had traveled to their memorial on the National Mall on Oct. 1. When confronted with barriers indicating that the area had been closed off to the public due to the shutdown, the veterans, along with some members of Congress, reportedly barged through and defied the order. For the next two days, members of Congress -- most of them Republicans -- flocked down to the World War II memorial to partake in photo ops and the resulting media frenzy. The lawmakers promised to fight for the elderly veterans and make sure that they could have access to their memorial, even though they were at fault for closing it in the first place.

There has since been some confusion as to who is allowed to visit the World War II Memorial and who isn't. The area was recently opened for First Amendment activities only. Demonstrators, including key shutdown architect Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R), joined a veteran-led rally at the memorial over the weekend, where they protested the Mall closures and marched to the White House. Amid "Impeach Obama" signs and confederate flags, a tea party speakercalled for President Barack Obama to "put down the Quran" and resign the presidency.

Berate a Park Ranger for the effects of the shutdown.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-Texas) was among those Republicans who made his way down to the World War II Memorial in the opening days of the shutdown. When he found a Park Ranger doing her job -- which, at the time, included controlling the crowd at the technically closed memorial -- the congressman blamed her for the closure he had voted for, and told her she should be ashamed of herself.

Put on lab coats and chastise Democrats for not funding cancer research.

A group of House Republicans traveled to the National Institutes of Health, where they threw on lab coats and pleaded with Democrats to undo the damage the shutdown had done to services for children with cancer.

"Let us help people. Let us help children. Please," said Rep. Todd Rokita (R-Ind.), whose son suffers from a rare neurogenetic disorder.

In order to help, Republicans wanted Democrats to support a variety of smaller bills that would have funded the government a la carte, based on which programs they believed were most necessary or popular. Democrats declined the offer, insisting that Republicans come to the table with a clean bill to fund the government in its entirety, not just the parts that were upsetting the public.

Fund raise off the whole debacle.

While some lawmakers were apparently not keen to be seen fundraising amid a shutdown that had left nearly a million federal workers furloughed without pay, others adopted a "keep calm and carry on" mentality. A number of Democratsattended a fundraiser for Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) in the first week of the shutdown, arguing that just because the government had closed they shouldn't be expected to change their campaign schedules.

The Democratic National Committee also used the GOP's intransigence as a highly successful fundraising tool in the run-up to the shutdown. After reports showed the DNC raised nearly $850,000 in the 24 hours before the shutdown began, Republicans like Rep. David Schweikert (R-Ariz.) accused Democrats of having pushed a shutdown simply to bring in donations. The congressman would later send out an email of his own, in which he attempted to raise funds off his allegations that Democrats were fundraising.

Rub their "nice house" in the faces of 800,000 federal employees they helped furlough.

Rep. Lee Terry (R-Neb.) has a nice house, and in an interview this month he let everyone know that it was part of the reason he wouldn't be giving up his constitutionally protected $174,000 annual salary amid the shutdown.

"I've got a nice house and a kid in college, and I'll tell you we cannot handle it," hetold the Omaha World-Herald. "Giving our paycheck away when you still worked and earned it? That's just not going to fly."

More than 100 lawmakers have decided to donate their paychecks to charity amid the shutdown, which has left hundreds of thousands of people nationwide largely without control of their economic wellbeing. Terry later apologized after his comments caused an outcry, and he said he'd have his paycheck withheld.

Tell furloughed employees they shouldn't get back pay while they're prohibited from working.

Despite voting for a measure to compensate government workers for the time they spent furloughed, Rep. Ted Yoho (R-Fla.) suggested that he felt differently at a recent town hall meeting.

A caller told Yoho that he was fine giving back pay to federal employees who continued working during the shutdown, "but the people that are home watching Netflix and whatever, I'm not sure that we should be sending them checks."

Yoho referred to the bill that passed the House unanimously in his response: "Well, when we voted on that, they were supposed to come back to work as part of that deal. I agree 100 percent with you. If they're not working, they shouldn't get paid."

Suggest furloughed employees take out loans if they can't pay the bills.

For a few brief moments last week, Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.) thought it would be a good idea to offer some financial advice to furloughed workers worried they might not be able to pay bills thanks to Congress. Here's his Facebook post on the matter, which was quickly taken down:

A staffer for Pearce later said that another staffer had put up the message, and that it "was in error."

Accuse the president of "curb-stomping" people.

Texas Republican and congressional troll extraordinaire Steve Stockman spent a few days during the first week of the shutdown aggressively blaming Democrats for the shutdown and all of its effects. When Obama refused Republican piecemeal proposals to refund select parts of the government, Stockman repeatedly declared that the president was "curb-stomping veterans."

Keep the congressional gym and other amenities open as essential services.

Critical government services have been slowed or shuttered by the shutdown, but don't worry, your representatives can still get in regular workouts at the congressional gym, thanks to House Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) decision to keep it open.According to Think Progress, which first reported the development, the House gym comes packed with a swimming pool, basketball courts, paddleball courts, a sauna, a steam room and flat screen TVs, and taxpayers are still footing the bill for regular cleaning and maintenance, as well as electricity to keep everything running.

Lawmakers also still have access to a Capitol subway system that shuttles them the short distance between the House and Senate office buildings and the Capitol building itself.

Complain that the gym is gross and doesn't have enough towels.

Rep. Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) pointed out some real pain and suffering in a recent interview, when he deflected calls for the gym to be closed amid the shutdown by noting there weren't even clean towels in it.

"There's hardly anybody working down there. There's no towel service, we're doing our own laundry down there," he said. "And we pay a fee to belong to the House gym. So this is no different than if you're working for an employer that offers a wellness program. You pay a fee to belong, that's what we do there."

Other lawmakers have also complained about the gyms getting disgusting with only a heavily depleted staff on hand.

Poll: Republicans' Handling Of Shutdown Gets Low Marks From 3 Out Of 4 Americans

 By Ariel Edwards-Levy/Huffington Post

Nearly three-quarters of Americans disapprove of Republicans' handling of the budget crisis, according to an ABC/Washington Post poll released Monday.

Disapproval of the GOP, which has risen steadily since just before the government shutdown began, is now at 74 percent, up 11 points from late September.

A majority of Americans are also discontented with Democrats' role in the budget negotiations. But disapproval ratings for Democrats in Congress and for President Barack Obama, both of which started at a lower level than disapproval of Republicans in Congress, have remained largely unchanged in the past two weeks. Sixty-one percent of Americans now dislike congressional Democrats' handling of the crisis, while 53 percent dislike Obama's. Those are rises of only 5 points and 3 points, respectively, from before the shutdown began.

Republicans themselves are increasingly negative about their lawmakers. In the latest survey, Americans who identified as Republican were about evenly split on congressional Republicans' performance, with 47 percent giving them a thumbs-down. Sixty-three percent of "very conservative" Republicans, however approve.

Other surveys have found similarly bleak results for the GOP. A Gallup poll last weekshowed the party's rating at a record low, while an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, also released last week, found that Americans assigned Republicans far more blame for the shutdown. The latter survey also found evidence of an "ideological boomerang” against the GOP, with support rising for a Democratic-controlled Congress, Obama's health care law and an expanded role for government.

The current political atmosphere is reminiscent of that surrounding the government shutdowns in 1995-1996, said pollster Gary Langer, from which he drew a note of caution.

"That result might give some pause to prognosticators who suggest that criticism of the GOP today will spell losses for the party in the 2014 midterm elections, just more than a year off," Langer told ABC. "No such impact seems readily apparent in the 1996 election: Ten months after those shutdowns, Clinton won re-election, but the Republicans held the House and Senate alike. Now, as then, what may matter most is not just today’s blame, but the eventual resolution of the crisis, and the extent of damage done en route."

The ABC/Washington Post poll surveyed 1,010 adults between Oct. 9 and Oct. 13, using live telephone interviews.

Senators Rumored To Reach A Deal On Shutdown And Default

BY ANNIE-ROSE STRASSER/Think Progress

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) have finally hammered out what seems to be a viable deal both to fund the government and raise the nation’s debt limit, opening up the potential to end the government shutdown and pull the country back from the brink of default.

The plan will only work if House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) agrees to take it to the House floor for a vote; there, an estimated 30-50 Republicans would surely vote against it, but it would garner enough bipartisan support to pass.

Details of the plan are still emerging, but Politico reports that it will likely include funding the government through January 15, and raising the debt limit through February 7th. It would keep in place the the automatic spending cuts known as sequestration, but would give government agencies flexibility in how they cut funding.

January 15, 2014 is also the date when sequestration will bring more austerity to government programs in the form of an additional $21 billion in cuts.

The deal also apparently sets up further budget negotiations (which in all likelihood would mean more cuts), to be figured out by a bipartisan group made up of both Senators and Representatives. Their proposal would need to be completed by December 13th.

One major concessions both to Republicans and to many of the country’s labor unions would be that a $63 fee on insurance plans — meant to raise revenue and reduce risk for insurers taking on patients with pre-existing conditions — would be delayed. Repealing the medical device tax, which was floated as a potential point of agreement between Democrats and Republicans, has beenpushed aside during this round of talks.

Senate Republicans are expected to review the deal tomorrow.

Republican who voted to shut down government asks park ranger why part of government shut down

By Travis Gettys/Raw Story

A Republican lawmaker who voted for a budget measure that set up the government shutdown confronted a park ranger to ask why a particular portion of the government was shut down.

Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX) asked the U.S. Park Service Ranger why she was keeping out most tourists from the World War II Memorial, although veterans have been permitted to go inside.

“How do you look at them and deny them access?” Neugebauer said, with an American flag tucked into his lapel pocket.

The ranger told Neugebauer, who voted Sunday with most House Republicans to delay implementation of the Affordable Care Act while funding the federal government, that it was difficult to keep out tourists.

The congressman told the ranger it should be difficult, and he suggested Park Service employees should be ashamed of themselves.

“I’m not ashamed,” the ranger said, and a crowd of onlookers joined the confrontation.

“This woman is doing her job, just like me,” a bicyclist said. “I’m a 30-year federal veteran, (and) I’m out of work.”

Neugebauer blamed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) for the shutdown, but the bicyclist said it was the government’s fault for not passing a budget.

Access to the memorial and other monuments in Washington, D.C., has become a political flashpoint after the government shut down Tuesday.

Two other House Republicans who voted for the budget measure rejected by the Senate, as promised, opened a barricade to the World War II Memorial to a group of veterans who’d arrived Tuesday morning as part of an Honor Flight visit.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) complained that House Republicans were trying to fund parts of the government they liked, such as the memorial, through smaller bills instead of voting on a comprehensive package that didn’t include a provision on Obamacare.

“They took hostages by shutting down the government,” Pelosi said. “Now they’re releasing one hostage at a time.”

The conservative Judicial Watch filed a Freedom of Information Act request related to the order to close the memorial, and the Republican National Committee chairman offered to cover costs to keep the memorial open.

A White House spokesman said Tuesday that the Interior Department would permit World War II veterans inside the memorial grounds, and an Honor Flight spokesman said the park service had “bent over backward” to accommodate them.

Obama Tears Into Republicans Over Shutdown: If Americans Just Stopped Working, They’d Be Fired

BY IGOR VOLSKY/Think Progress

President Obama tore into House Republicans for demanding policy concessions for agreeing to fund the government and raise the nation’s debt ceiling during a speech at Rockville, MD on Thursday. He joked that if American workers made such demands to their bosses, they would lose their jobs.

Teeing off a quote from Rep. Martin Stutzman (R-IN), who claimed on Tuesday night that Republicans won’t be “disrespected” and must “get something” out of the shutdown, Obama told Republicans, “You have already gotten the opportunity to serve the American people….if you’re being disrespected it’s because of that attitude that you’ve got that you deserve to get something for doing your job!” He then wondered what would happen if every-day Americans adopted the GOP’s tactics:

Everybody here just does their job, right? You know, if you’re working here and in the middle of the day you just stopped and said, you know what? I want to get something, but I don’t know — I don’t know exactly what I’m going get, but — I’m just going to stop working until I get something– I’m going to shut down the whole plant until I get something. You’d get fired! Right?

Watch it:

Obama reiterated that he would not negotiate with Republicans over keeping the government running or raising the debt ceiling, and called on House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to bring a clean funding bill to the floor of the House for a vote. At least 20 Republicans have committed to voting for such a measure, meaning that Congress could have the necessary to pass it.

Replying to Stutzman’s question about what Republicans “get” for ending the three-day shutdown, Obama said, “What you get is our intelligence professionals being back on the job. What you get is our medical researchers back on the job. What you get are little kids back in the Head Start. What you get are our national parks and monuments open again. What you get is the economy not stalling, but continuing to grow. What you get are workers continuing to be hired. That’s what you get.”

Even Hastert Doesn’t Think Boehner Needs To Follow Arbitrary ‘Hastert Rule’

BY JOSH ISRAEL/Think Progress

Though it appears a majority of the House now backs a clean continuing resolution, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) has thus far suppressed consideration because the idea does not have majority support within the GOP caucus and would thus violate the so-called “Hastert Rule.” But even the arbitrary requirement’s namesake, former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) says the Hastert Rule is a “non-entity” to which even he didn’t adhere.

Despite the disastrous and wide-ranging effects of the government shutdownhis party forced, Boehner has steadfastly refused to bring up a straight bill to re-open the government, without dismantling Obamacare. Asked Monday whether he’d allow the House to give an up-or-down vote to a clean continuing resolution, Boehner told reporters, “That’s not going to happen.”

In an interview with Eleanor Clift for The Daily Beast, Hastert –the longest-serving Republican House Speaker in the nation’s history — said, “The Hastert Rule never really existed. It’s a non-entity as far as I’m concerned.” While he acknowledged that in 2006 he had explained he “philosophically” preferred to have at least half of the GOP conference behind legislation, it “wasn’t a rule.”

“The Hastert Rule is kind of a misnomer,” Hastert added. “The real Hastert Rule is 218,” a simple majority of the U.S. House when no seats are vacant, he continued. “If we had to work with Democrats, we did.”

A Huffington Post tally finds 20 House Republicans have now indicated they would be willing to back a clean bill. Combined with the 200 House Democrats, they could provide more than 218 votes to pas a clean continuing resolution — should Boehner bring the measure to the floor.

The Ohio Republican has previously disregarded the “Hastert Rule” to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, avert the “fiscal cliff,” and to provide Superstorm Sandy emergency aid funding.

Hastert declined to criticize Boehner directly, but noted, “You can’t be in Congress and shut down government and get anything done. It’s an oxymoron.”

House Republican Admits To Donors: GOP Had To Shut Down The Government To Please The Tea Party

BY JOSH ISRAEL/Think Progress

Though he repeatedly joined with all of his Republican colleagues to force the government shutdown, in a candid moment last month Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) complained that the Tea Party’s influence forced them to do it.

Walden, who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee (the House GOP’s campaign arm), reportedly told a group of top Republican donors that the Tea Party’s organizational strength meant that Republicans had to shutdown the government and obstruct a debt-ceiling increase.

“Listen,” Walden told them, “We have to do this because of the Tea Party. If we don’t, these guys are going to get primaried and they are going to lose their primary.” Noting that he often hears complaints from the pro-business wing of the party, he noted none of them get involved at the local level. “The Tea Party gets involved at the local level,” he added.

Thanks to gerrymandering, most House Republicans represent districts that are solidly Republican. Indeed while more than 51 percent of the nation’s voters backed President Barack Obama’s re-election in 2012, the average House Republican district gave Obama less than 40 percent of its support — more than an 11 point difference.

UPDATE

Though the NRCC did not initially dispute the report, a committee spokeswoman Thursday disputed whether Walden explicitly mentioned the Tea Party in his remarks.

Fox v. Fox On GOP Attempts To Defund Obamacare Through Government Shutdown

REMINGTON SHEPARD/Media Matters For America:

While some Fox News hosts and contributors such as Sean Hannity and Sarah Palin have supported a right-wing Republican plan to defund Obamacare by threatening a government shutdown, other Fox News contributors like Karl Rove and Charles Krauthammer have criticized the idea as unworkable and "nuts."

Republican Senator Mike Lee (UT) threatened to shut down the government in order to stop funding health care reform -- signed into law in 2010 and found to beconstitutional in 2012. He proposed that Republicans refuse to vote for any continuing resolution -- a measure that continues funding the operations of the federal government until a budget and annual appropriations can be passed -- that includes funding for the continued implementation of health care reform.

Other Republicans are critical of this approach, with Senator Richard Burr (NC) calling it "the dumbest idea I've ever heard of." Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman noted in a July 25 New York Times column that even Republican leaders now recognize that confrontations like this threat to shut down the government will "inflict substantial harm on the economy."

Despite this, some Fox News hosts and contributors have rallied in support of the right-wing Republican brinksmanship plan. On the July 23 edition of his radio show, Fox host Sean Hannity hosted Lee andexpressed support for the effort. Two days later on his radio show, Hannity called the issue a "litmus test" for the conservatism of Republicans and threatened to primary any Republican who did not support the effort.

In a July 25 RedState post, Fox News contributor Erick Erickson similarly wrote that Republicans who did not support the defunding effort should be challenged in primary elections:

Why would Republicans keep funding a law that hurts so many people and is so unpopular? Why would they do that?

Republicans in Congress have a choice this fall with the latest continuing resolution. They can choose to not include funding for the implementation of Obamacare. Negotiate everything, but make that their line in the sand. If the Democrats choose to shut down the government over an unpopular law that hurts people, it is their choice. Republicans should not fund Obamacare.

Any Republican who chooses to fund Obamacare should be primaried. The advertisements write themselves. Republicans, by voting to fund Obamacare, are putting people out of work, driving up healthcare costs, and hurting families. Republicans are not listening to voters who hate the law if they fund Obamacare.                                

Fox News contributor Sarah Palin also jumped on the government shutdown bandwagon, arguing on the July 30 edition of Hannity that using a government shutdown as leverage to defund Obamacare was "common sense."

Other Fox News contributors have found the idea of government shutdown over health care reform to be "ludicrous" and "nuts." On the July 30 edition of America's Newsroom, Fox News contributor Jonah Goldberg said that the idea "works fantastically well for fundraising when you want to go and run in 2016 for president" but is "ludicrous" as a winning legislative strategy.

Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer called the idea "really dumb" on the July 26 edition of Special Report, and in his August 1 Washington Post column said it was "nuts," because the effort will invariably fail and hand President Obama a victory:

The other battle is about defunding Obamacare. Led by Sens. Mike Lee and Ted Cruz, the GOP insurgents are threatening to shut down the government on Oct. 1 if the stopgap funding bill contains money for Obamacare.

This is nuts. The president will never sign a bill defunding the singular achievement of his presidency. Especially when he has control of the Senate. Especially when, though a narrow 51 percent majority of Americans disapproves of Obamacare, only 36 percent favors repeal. President Obama so knows he'll win any shutdown showdown that he's practically goading the Republicans into trying.

[...]

This is about tactics. If I thought this would work, I would support it. But I don't fancy suicide. It has a tendency to be fatal.

Similarly, Fox News contributor Karl Rove argues on Hannity July 30 that the effort was problematic because the votes could not be mustered to pass an effort to defund Obamacare and because Republicans would be blamed for the resultant shutdown.

On occasion Fox has argued with itself on obstructionist strategy. During the 2011 debate surrounding theRepublican-manufactured debt ceiling crisis, some Fox News personalities supported the destructive measure, while others recognized that failing to raise the debt ceiling "would indeed be Armageddon."