Who is at fault for shutting down the government? Our insiders and readers weigh in. Full results below.
Selected anonymous comments:
“Congressional Republicans for listening and being bullied by the fewer The Tea Party politicians. We need the Affordable Care Act. Everyone deserves the right to healthcare.”
“President Obama is directing the Congressional Democrats, so it is their fault, as well. They (Obama, Harry Reid, et al) have only one way of doing things and that is their way. There is no negotiation. They are 100% at fault. I wish people would vote them all out. I applaud the Congressional Republicans for calling attention to the pifalls of Obamacare (ACA). It is a travesty.”
“Mike Lee’s dreams have come true.”
“As a Republican, I’ve never been more embarrassed of my party. There’s plenty of blame to go around, but I think this will mostly hurt Republicans.”
“The ongoing shutdown us completely the President’s fault because he refuses to negotiate.”
“This one is entirely a product of congressional Republicans’ basic approach to governance for the past 20 years (at least). The Tea Party only takes the logic of this approach to its logical extreme.”
“Who besides some Tea Party types want a shutdown ? Tea Party types are thus responsible for a shutdown more than anyone else, if they force a partial (or even worse, a full) economic roadblock.”
“The Republicans are trying to set a very dangerous precedent in our government. If either party has the majority in the house, as republicans do, they can hold the opposing party, and nation, hostage until they get their way. If the Dems were in this position they could hold the republicans , and nation, hostage until their immigration bill was passed, or taxes raised, etc.. Mike Lee needs to understand no one wins.”
“Is there a provision in the ACA that covers extremely over inflated egos?”
“The GOP is absolutely to blame for the shutdown. Instead of behaving like mature adults and making a compromise for the good of the people, Republicans insist on holding this country hostage until all of their demands are followed to the letter.”
“TheTea Party said this is what they wanted and intended to do from the get-go. People who voted for them didn’t think the concept completely through, didn’t understand the consequences. Nevertheless, the representatives from Utah to Congress, senate and house, probably could and should have, particularly the human impacts. I think they are to blame.”
“Poster boys Lee and Cruz leading the way. Looks like they are holding Boehner hostage who won’t bring up bill for a vote. Poll asking people if they agree with Lee’s tactics and would vote for him again would be interesting.”
“The way ObamaCare was ramrodded through Congress without anyone really knowing what was in the bill has forced opponents to try equally as Draconian measures to ‘right the ship.’ President Obama should not be surprised or feel he has no responsibility to negotiate just because he was able to slip the ACA through. Both he and Congress are to blame.”
“We need more politicians who have the ability to build bridges rather than burn them. The art of compromise has been replaced with No, No, and Hell No! (Yes Mr. Lee, I am talking about you).”
“While the Dems will blame the “Tea Party conservatives,” no one seems mature enough to come to a table together and actually compromise.”
“Moderate Republicans (like myself) are sick of their party being held hostage by 30 or 40 insane tea party backed members of the House. Democrats emerge victorious once again over a party that is becoming tired of its smallest faction. Time to bring Senator Lee home, give him a nice teaching position at UVU or BYU, and elect someone who knows that the Founding Fathers not only wrote the Constitution, but knows that they compromised and negotiated a heck of a lot to get it done. He seems to ignore that part.”
“ACA was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the president. It is the law. The Republicans need to figure out a better alternative to replace ACA. In the mean time, it is a good idea for all Americans to have health insurance. Millions are buying insurance that did not have it before. I am not sure that ACA is the best solution but we elected representatives to figure that out.”
“How can you say it’s one more than the other? They all feel strongly about the healthcare law and are all standing behind their political beliefs. The tweets flying back and forth trying to make this “Boehner’s shutdown” or “Obama’s shutdown” are convincing no one.”
“The polarization of the American electorate – with the effect of more polarized representation – has created national power struggles. We need pragmatic collaborators, not ideologues. While the current situation is probably more the fault of the far right, cooler heads should prevail on both sides of the aisle.”
“Tea Party anarchists and the spineless Republican leaders who don’t dare to stand up to them. Romney ran against Obamacare and lost. Opponents dragged it to the Supreme Court and lost. If the Republicans continue to fight it, they’ll lose, too.”
“They said they wanted to ‘shut ‘er down,’ and they did. You don’t negotiate with a two-year old having a tantrum.”
“House Republicans are the ones to blame, because they were the ones who initiated the shutdown in the first place. They did nothing for six months except try to repeal, defund, or delay Obamacare, and whose only response has been to blame President Obama and the Democrats for not repealing the law of the land.”
“The president is our commander and chief. He should be able to negotiate. He should be able to bring the parties together especially in a critical time as this. While I didn’t support the political theater put on by Cruz and Lee, I wholly support the House’s amended budget. They handled themselves well. Obamacare is a train wreck. If other entities have been granted a delay then I want one as well.”
“Pretty stupid when partisan pride, on both sides, is more carefully guarded than the health of the nation. From the president to most members of congress, I think we elected the wrong people.”
“Right wing, political consultants driven by ever larger pay checks (thanks to Citizen’s United) are hitting pay day home runs for unthinking political candidates. Their basic premise is ‘fear sells’ so create more of it. The appropriate metaphor is lightening. Static energy builds up in large cumulus clouds. It remains uncharged until something sparks it then in dramatic and sometimes deadly fashion it strikes out. Unfortunately, for most Americans we are waiting for the lightening to strike, and never know who amongst us will be burned or killed.”
“I was going to say the Tea Party, but it’s the Republicans’ fault for listening to this extreme wing of the party. They are a force of destruction, nothing else. I have my form filled out to change my voter registration to unaffiliated and leave the GOP. It’s been sitting on my desk for weeks, and this might be the stunt that finally pushes me into action after being a Republican for 32 years.”
“Every other President has been willing to negotiate. This President all along has acted as if he is better than Congress and has never fully engaged (them).”
“The American electorate, for electing the same people over and over and over, even though the Congressional approval rating is 10%. And Republicans for not seeing that there was NO WAY for them to win on this.”
“They all pretty much suck equally.”
Respondents include –Â
Fred Adams, Stuart Adams, Jess Agraz, Scott Anderson, Laura Arellano, Patrice Arent, Bette Arial, Neil Ashdown, Bruce Baird, Heather Barney, Steve Barth, Jeff Bell, Tom Berggren, Mike Bertelsen, Ron Bigelow, Emily Bingham-Hollingshead, Rob Bishop, Laura Black, Nanci Bockelie, Charles Bradley, Jim Bradley, Ralph Brown, Chris Bleak, Curt Bramble, Joel Briscoe, Ralph Brown, Aaron Browning, Ken Bullock, Ric Cantrell, Maura Carabello, Marty Carpenter, Rebecca Chavez-Houck, Kay Christensen, David Clark, Kim Coleman, Peter Corroon, Tim Cosgrove, Fred Cox, Lew Cramer, Gene Davis, Richard Davis, Brad Daw, Alan Dayton, Margaret Dayton, Mike Deaver, Brad, Dee, Joseph Demma, Jake Dennis, Dan Deuel, Jeff Dixon, Brian Doughty, Carl Downing, Randy Dryer, Susan Duckworth, Donald Dunn, Alan Eastman, Becky Edwards, Scott Ericson, Chase Everton, Jessica Fawson, Janice Fisher, Wendy Fisher, Lorie Fowlke, Ronald Fox, Claire Francis, Ryan Frandsen, Adam Gardiner, Jordan Garn, Ernie Gamonal, Luke Garrott, Dave Gessel, Sheryl Ginsberg, Natalie Gochnour, Robert Grow, Karen Hale, David Hansen, Neil Hansen, Joe Hatch, Jeff Hartley, Dan Hauser, Lynn Hemmingway, Deidre Henderson, Neal Hendrickson, Casey Hill, Lyle Hillyard, Kory Holdaway, Randy Horiuchi, Ben Horsley, Bruce Hough, Scott Howell, Greg Hughes, Miriam Hyde, Allison Isom, Casey Jackson, Eric Jergensen, Mike Jerman, Jonathan Johnson, Michael Jolley, Gordon Jones, Leslie Jones, Pat Jones, Kirk Jowers, Jeremy Keele, Brian King, Scott Konopasek, Steve Kroes, Chris Kyler, Carter Livingston, Fred Lampropoulos, Clark Larsen, Douglas Larson, David Litvack, Larry Lunt, Matt Lyon, Ben McAdams, Daniel McCay, Gayle McKeachnie, JT Martin, Maryann Martindale, Jason Mathis, Bob Mayhew, Karen Mayne, Bret Milburn, Derek Miller, Rob Miller, Ethan Millard, Brett Millburn, Karen Morgan, Jeffery Morton, Mike Mower, Holly Mullen, Wayne Niederhauser, Mike Noel, Randy O’Hara, Ralph Okerlund, James Olsen, Val Oveson, Kelly Patterson, John Pearce, Helen Peters, Karen Peterson, Frank Pignanelli, Becky Pirente, Marie Poulson, Jason Powers, Tami Pyfer, Joe Pyrah, Mike Reberg, Jill Remington Love, Lauren Richards, Holly Richardson, Robin Riggs, James Roberts, Luz Robles, Ross Romero, Carol Sapp, Don Savage, Bryan Schott, Shauna Scott-Bellaccomo, Jay Seegmiller, Jennifer Seelig, Patrick Shea, Randy Shumway, Soren Simonsen, Jeremy Slaughter, Brendan Smith, Brian Somers, Carol Spackman-Moss, Robert Spendlove, Barbara Stallone, Howard Stephenson, David Stringfellow, Mike Styler, Shinika Sykes, Juliette Tennert, Gary Thorup, Kevin Van Tassell, Royce Van Tassel, Doug Thompson, Michael Waddoups, Laura Warburton, Chuck Warren, Christine Watkins, LaVarr Webb, Todd Weiler, Alan West, Mark Wheatley, Larry Wiley, Ted Wilson, Carl Wimmer, Mike Winder, Travis Wood, Thomas Wright, Crystal Young-Otterstrom
Results from the UtahPolicy.com/KSL Insider poll can be heard on KSL Radio every Friday and are published on Utah Policy.com every Monday.
