GOP’s crazy scapegoat: What their next shutdown will really be about

[DonViejo]

Republicans know shutdowns are toxic, but that doesn't mean they won't do one. They'll just blame you-know-who

SIMON MALOY

With Congress on the verge of reconvening and government funding set to expire at the end of September, people are understandably beginning to wonder if the Republicans will shut down the government again. What issue could possibly lead them back down that path? Will it be immigration? Perhaps the Export-Import Bank? Speculation has been fed by comments from leading Senate Republicans like Mitch McConnell and Marco Rubio, both of whom have hinted at using the appropriations process at some point to force policy concessions from the administration. But will we actually arrive at the point of a shutdown?

The going theory is that the Republicans won’t risk a shutdown because they’re not so stupid as to do something that politically disastrous just before an election. That’s a fine theory on paper, though it clashes slightly with the fact that House Republicans voted less than a month ago to end President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which protects young undocumented immigrants from deportation. In doing so they angered all the liberals they’re hoping won’t turn out this November, and stomped all over their own rebranding efforts with Latino voters. Trusting that the House GOP won’t shoot itself in the foot politically isn’t the safest of bets.

And it’s looking like immigration will be the focus of the shutdown fight, should there be one. President Obama is set to take executive action on deportations, and that’s going to drive conservatives in the House absolutely insane. As the Atlantic’s Molly Ball reports, Republicans are worried that those same conservatives – emboldened by their successful push to force a vote on killing DACA earlier this month – will stage a rebellion if the leadership doesn’t use the upcoming funding battle to fight Obama on immigration. One of those immigration hard-liners, Rep. Steve King, told the Washington Post that “if Obama does move forward with an executive action, many House Republicans will be unwilling to extend funding for the government that is set to expire at the end of September.”

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http://www.salon.com/2014/08/29/gops_crazy_scapegoat_what_their_next_shutdown_will_really_be_about/