SHUT IT DOWN!

BATON ROUGE, La. - U.S. Sen. David Vitter told a packed town hall meeting Thursday that he will support a federal government shutdown this fall rather than agree to pay for President Barack Obama's health care law.

"I'm going to fight like the dickens. I'm going to vote to repeal, to delay, to defund," the Republican senator said.

Vitter said he won't vote for legislation to continue paying for U.S. government services beyond Sept. 30 if it contains money for the health care law's implementation.

In the midst of cries of, "Shut it down!" you have to wonder if the people at the town meeting think at all about consequences. 

He [Robert Ordeneaux] and several others in the audience said they'd be willing to temporarily lose their government benefits through Social Security, Medicare and other programs listed by Vitter that would stop issuing checks in a shutdown.

Well, yes they do.  Temporarily?  For how long?  The folks who are so willing to sacrifice had better prepare for the long haul.  Who knows when the Republican clown show in Congress will get around to funding the federal government once again in this age of deadlock? 

Senator Vitter's support of a government shutdown is despicably reckless and irresponsible, and he'd be very foolish to believe his supporters will not flood his office with phone calls demanding their checks.  Vitter draws the line at the suggestion by his supporters to impeach President Obama, because he says it could backfire.  If  Republicans succeed in shutting down the government, Vitter will soon know the meaning of backfire in spades, for the voters will not blame Obama and the Democrats.  When Social Security payments don't arrive, and Medicare stops paying the bills, the blame will go squarely where it belongs - on reckless and irresponsible Republicans who would rather destroy the country than not have their way.

The Health Insurance Marketplace, part of the Affordable Care Act, is due to begin taking applications on October 1, 2013, and the Republicans are fearful that the marketplaces may actually work and citizens will see the benefits, so they want to stop it in its tracks.

Open enrollment starts October 1, 2013. Plans and prices will be available then. Coverage starts as soon as January 1, 2014. 

Republicans are afraid, very afraid.

On a side note, Vitter says he supports Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) in the Senate race against Sen. Mary Landrieu (D), but the Tea Party folks don't much like Cassidy because he's too liberal (Ha ha).  Rob Maness is their boy.  Maness says Cassidy is just another Mary.  Landrieu is a right-leaning Democrat, so since Bill Cassidy is comparatively sane, but still quite conservative, Maness is probably not far off in his comparison.  I will support Landrieu, though I don't always agree with her policies and votes, because any Democrat in the Senate is better than a Republican.  To see two Republicans mix it up in the primary will do my heart good.