“Analysis”?
P. Schultz
October 4, 2013
Here is a
link to an article, an “analysis” in the NY Times that is headlined, “The
Benefits of Intransigence.” And it claims that Ted Cruz is really shrewder than
people give him and the Tea Partiers credit for because the impacts of the
alleged “government shutdown” will not be as “negative” as many suppose them to
be or they were when Bill Clinton was president.
I have
little quarrel with these conclusions but it is amazing that Tanenhaus, the
author and “analyst” here, says almost nothing about how these results might or
might not be affected by how the Democrats are acting. That is, if we take
Tanenhaus’ words for it, the Democrats have no way or ways to affect the
outcome of this “shutdown.” Why is this? Because Tanenhaus, like so many others, simply assumes that the
Democrats have nothing to gain from the “shutdown.” Once this assumption is
held in abeyance, then a wholly different picture emerges, viz., a picture in which
the Democrats are playing the role of facilitator for the Republicans, as are
the establishment Republicans as well for the Tea Partiers. Why would they do
this? Because their primary goal is to preserve the status quo and a government
“shutdown” is a wonderful way to accomplish that goal.
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