Today’s quote comes to us from House Minority Whip Katherine Clark D-MA). Here is what she told a reporter about the now-22 day shutdown of government, and the damage it is causing everyday citizens:
“Shutdowns are terrible. Of course, there will be families that are going to suffer. We take that responsibility very seriously. But it is one of the few leverage times we have.”
It would be hard to overstate my surprise – and, I have no doubt, Chuck Schumer’s horror – over that admission.
What Rep. Clark is saying, in so many words, is that:
-Democrats are responsible for the shutdown, not Republicans.
-They are intentionally continuing the shutdown even though it is causing families to suffer.
-The reason they are doing so is that, since Republicans currently hold the presidency and majorities in both houses, voting “no” on cloture (which requires 60 votes, not a majority) – which is the one and only thing holding up funding for those families – is Democrats’ only way of getting political leverage, so they are putting it over the suffering of those families.
Wow.
Chuck Schumer and his acolytes have spent weeks trying convince voters that the shutdown should be blamed on Republicans. But now the House Minority Whip, has told them that the shutdown is a purposeful action on the part of Democrats (which, of course, it is).
Here’s a thought, Rep. Clark: has it ever occurred to you that the reason Republicans have majorities in both houses is that voters gave them those majorities? Has it ever occurred to you that pulling stunts like this, where you hurt millions of people so you can put the wood to Republicans, might have a negative affect on getting them back?
I award Katherine Clark Quote Of The Day honors for her honesty…
…along with a wish that I were a fly on the wall during her next conversation with Chuck Schumer.
