The Obstruct-ican Party is Back in Washington

This title in yesterday's New York Times caught my attention:  "In Immigration Fight, Republicans Explore Alternatives to a Shutdown."  

what eye thynk:   While many of those in the Republican Tea Party block are still rallying for shutting the government down over immigration reform, the NY Times article explained the convoluted approaches being considered by others in the GOP that would preserve the immigration status quo by throwing a roadblock up that would halt any executive order by the President.  One option being explored is passing a new spending bill in December, but defunding parts of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization service.  Another is to pass the spending bill but include language that essentially strips the President of his right to use executive action.  

If this is how Republicans expect to win the Hispanic vote in 2016, Democrats can begin planning their inaugural balls right now.

Evidence that a convoluted plan will prevail over another Ted Cruz/Marco Rubio sponsored shutdown can be seen in the presence of the Koch brothers, whose representatives have been in Washington all week talking to GOP leadership and saying they think a shutdown is a bad idea. (If the Koch brothers don't want something to happen, the GOP is going to make sure it doesn't.)

But here is what I found so upsetting about that newspaper headline:  It has apparently never entered their little hate-filled minds that, if they don't want the President to take executive action, all they have to do is take action themselves.  It's as though the GOP has completely lost its ability to move forward.  All this drama, all this posturing, all this time and energy and resources consumed over an issue that is entirely within their ability to solve in one afternoon on the floor of the House.

The Senate passed a bi-partisan immigration reform bill over a year ago.  Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) refused to allow the House to vote on it.  The President has been threatening executive action for months in response to the lack of action by the House.  Now, suddenly, faced with a deadline announced by the White House, the GOP is in crisis mode, chasing their own tails while trying to appear as though they are not about to get trampled by their own elephant.

If this is the way they intend to govern for the next two years, when it comes to ugly, we ain't seen nothin' yet.