The Patriot Post® · Shutdown Showdown Day 9

The federal government’s partial shutdown is now in its ninth day and Republicans and Democrats are still bickering and seeking political gain. What else is new? The Republican-controlled House has passed 16 measures to fund parts of the government, while the Senate has rejected every effort. Senate Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is pushing a $1.1 trillion debt ceiling increase through Dec. 31, 2014 – after Election Day. It includes no spending reform whatsoever.

For his part, Barack Obama trotted out to a press conference yesterday to denounce Republicans, who he says shouldn’t “demand ransom” for funding the government. Just to drill the point home, he used terms like “hostage-taking,” “nuclear bomb,” “extortion” and “economic chaos” to describe GOP tactics.

Aside from this verbal bludgeoning, he said he was “happy to talk” to Republicans “about anything” – provided they pass a continuing resolution and raise the debt ceiling first. He even dared the House to pass a CR. Obama is clearly lying about his willingness to negotiate in a pathetic attempt to portray himself as eminently reasonable. And House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) didn’t bite: “What the president said today is if there’s unconditional surrender by Republicans, he’ll sit down and talk to us. That’s not the way our government works.”

Meanwhile, one stat you may have missed on the evening news is that the shutdown affects just 17% of the government. That’s right: 83% of the government is up and running. But that hasn’t stopped Obama from his singular mission to make people suffer. He even admitted that the reason for blocking partial funding and inflicting as much pain as possible is to make sure Republicans feel “political heat.” The latest on that front is that the Pentagon is suspending death benefits for families of military personnel killed in Afghanistan. National parks remain Barackaded, though an exception was made for illegal immigration activists at the DC mall.

But hey, Obama’s “happy to talk” – though talk is all he ever does. And the nation is getting tired of his constantly petulant, rude and childish rhetoric.