But one piece keeps eating at me and wasn't sure if it was just me or if this is also one of the more galling aspects of this catastrophe for others as well.
The GOP, surrendering any sense of responsibility and decency to its most rabid wing, plunges the nation into crisis and shuts down the government. Its members then try to make political hay out of it by having daily faux outrage outbursts on camera as they discover that another government facility, monument, or park is shuttered. Or that some government function isn't happening and so some group is not having its needs attended to.
What part of government shutdown didn't they understand when they so gleefully decided to throw yet another tantrum over Obamacare and turn the lights off on the government? You can't decide not to fund the government and then be outraged that the WW2 memorial isn't open, or that families of deceased soldiers aren't getting their checks?
And then to try to blame the whole non-functioning piece on the White House or Senate Democrats. Like they were the ones who wanted the government to stop functioning.
And we won't even get into how selective their outrage is. Cancer patients not getting their last chance treatments from the National Institutes of Health? The CDC not up and running as we head into flu season? Bare bones at the NOAA as we make our way through hurricane season? No Head Start for thousands? No food for young mothers and children in the WIC program? No personnel to adequately take care of food inspections as a salmonella outbreak unfolds?
Hardly a mention from the GOP on those items. Can't wrap yourself in the flag and use veterans as a photo-op for those issues.
Polls show the GOP is taking the blame for the shutdown and their brand is tanking. It is well deserved. They are reaping as they have sown. They created the shutdown and they should own it. Yeah, GOP, you did build this.