A Congressman I was chatting with gave me the "House Gym view" (so to speak) on the Govt Shutdown...

[brooklynite]

He says the Tea Party members working out next to him really think their strategy is going to succeed...

[PoliticAverse]

1. Not enough Tea Party caucus members to stop the Senate bill if Boehner brings it up for a vote

in the House.

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

2. Tea Party members...Think

LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!

That those words would appear together in a sentence that doesn't end in a punch line,and presumably spoken straight faced,is mega funny to me.

[geek tragedy]

3. Do they even have a strategy? nt

[JHB]

6. They have a delusion that they think is a "strategy"...

...and a lot of damage could be done before they are relieved of that delusion.

[OmahaBlueDog]

4. I think "success" is a relative term

They feel they have a shot (albeit not a good one) at defunding the ACA. They feel they have a much better shot at getting individual mandate delayed for a year. That's important, because they want to be able to use opposition to individual mandate as a campaign issue in the 2014 midterms.

My problem is that Reid sent them back a bill with the ACA funding left in, and the budget flat. I'd have simply sent back budget balanced to $0 deficit via increased taxes on the upper 10% of earners, tobacco companies, oil companies, and natural gas drillers.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. The fruits of appeasing crazies for 20+ years

They've won virtually every other time, why stop now?

[fadedrose]

7. Until Nov. 2014 - only if they win elections

Hopefully the Dems could more heavily fund candidates in these districts..

But a lot of harm could be done before then..