GOP Rep. Tim Griffin of Arkansas took to Twitter to blame Democrats' "violent rhetoric" for the incident, then doubled down when called out as an opportunist. Now he's got a tweet up saying that no one is at fault for a crime but the criminal. So he had a fun day. See the "yard filled with rakes" items below for more fun.
When it comes to the debt ceiling, there's no position that John Boehner hasn't taken. That's what you like in a Speaker, decisiveness. On the bright side, Greg Sargent sees Boehner in a sort of pre-cave stance. This was, of course, the plan all along.
But if the move from government shutdown fight to debt ceiling fight seems a little rushed, there's a reason for that. The GOP's big donors are not at all pleased with the current clown show, so that's one more reason why Boehner might be impatient to end it.
And why would those donors be happy? This whole shutdown fiasco is a yard filled with rakes that GOP dopes keep stepping on. Take Rep. Randy Neugebauer, who publicly berated a park ranger at the WWII Memorial, acting as if closing it was her idea, instead of his party's. He came off looking like a jackass and a bully.
Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell explain their super-secret, focus group-tested plan to totally win the shutdown standoff to everyone in the world, thanks to a hot mic. One rake, two noggins.
Indiana Rep. Todd Rokita basically tells CNN's Carol Costello not to worry her pretty little head over the shutdown. Congrats Todd, you just found another rake.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman scrambles to take back this shutdown statement from yesterday: "We’re not going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I don’t know what that even is." Whack! That there's a rake.
Finally, Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis, she of the filibuster and pink running shoes, is officially running for Governor of the Lone Star state.
[cartoon via Truthdig]
