ET TU, CONGRESSMAN BARR?

It seems to me Republicans can make a case for cutting government spending..but their tactics to do it are all wrong..as the recent 16 day government shutdown proved.

Too many people were truly hurt. Too many things cropped up..not thought of by the “closers” that had to be rectified suddenly, giving more proof of this bad idea.

And, topping it all off..Obamacare went right on; it had been funded previously. So the main goal of the “closers” was not reachable. And, get this, the costs of closing the government turned out to be higher than if the government had remained open!  How illogical can you get? What utter folly on the part of some in the GOP.

In Kentucky, all 3 senior Republican House members finally voted to end the shutdown. Only the two new Young Turks still were intransigent…Thomas Massie and our own Andy Barr. Barr has now voted (1) to shut down and keep shut down our government; (2) cut food stamps to many people in his district who desperately need them; and (3) cut funding for Head Start. He can rationalize his votes all he wants, this is their practical effect.

I suspect he is in trouble for re-election, if his voters have any memory of these past few weeks. This will be signaled even more so if new, well known names announce their interest in running.

Senator McConnell, on the other hand, probably did himself some good..though Matt Bevin and the Tea Partiers may not think so when the liberal Washington Post writes..”Thank God for Mitch McConnell.”

Mitch got a bad rap from many. What I have seen is he did not insert pork into the final settlement, the $3B worth of improvements for Ohio River locks in W. Kentucky. Others introduced that measure and championed it. Mitch and Senator Reid (D-Nev) finally broke the logjam and forced the GOP House to see the light.

That said, let’s realize the “can has just been kicked down the road” a few months---not years..and in 2014, when an election year will make compromise much more difficult..all these issues will be back to haunt the Nation.

Maybe by then, the GOP… Mr. Barr included..can argue their views on both facts and philosophy..without resorting to idiotic, unproductive, and

“job killing” tactics such as sequester and closure.

 I'm just sayin'...