Bracing For A Long Shutdown

Politico runs an inadvertently terrifying story about the politics behind the shutdown:

Government shutdown: Why many Republicans have no reason to deal

The prevailing wisdom ahead of the government shutdown was that tea party lawmakers who agitated for it would fold within a few days, once they got an earful from angry constituents and felt the sting of bad headlines. House GOP leaders called it a “touch the stove” moment for the band of Republican rebels, when ideology would finally meet reality.

Uh huh - a few harsh NY Times editorials and perhaps a sneer from rachel Maddow and this would all be over.

But there’s another reality that explains why that thinking may well be wrong, and the country could be in for a protracted standoff: Most of the Republicans digging in have no reason to fear voters will ever punish them for it.

The vast majority of GOP lawmakers are safely ensconced in districts that, based on the voter rolls, would never think of electing a Democrat. Their bigger worry is that someone even more conservative than they are — bankrolled by a cadre of uncompromising conservative groups — might challenge them in a primary.

So from the standpoint of pure political survival, there’s every incentive to keep the government closed in what looks like a futile protest over Obamacare. The latest theory gaining currency in Congress is that it will take a potential default on the nation’s debt in a few weeks to bring the crisis to a head.

Well, no kidding. Its has been obvious for years and reported for months that these "extreme" Republicans are in fact acting quite rationally vis a vis their districts. Yet we still have the Senate Majority Leader saying they're 'cockamamie' and the President waiting to "break that fever".

This unfamiliarlty with reality would be even more troubling if I thought Reid and Obama were actually interested in a prompt resolution to this stand-off. But they want this fight and are lapping up the NY Times editorials and Maddowian denunciations (SOOO much more fun than hearing about Syria, or Snowden, or Obama's lapsed domestic agenda), so this may keep up for a while.

Ezra Klein actually earns his paycheck with two interviews - here is Robert Costa of the National Review on What Went Wrong:

RC: What we're seeing is the collapse of institutional Republican power. It’s not so much about Boehner. It’s things like the end of earmarks. They move away from Tom DeLay and they think they're improving the House, but now they have nothing to offer their members. The outside groups don't always move votes directly but they create an atmosphere of fear among the members. And so many of these members now live in the conservative world of talk radio and tea party conventions and Fox News invitations. And so the conservative strategy of the moment, no matter how unrealistic it might be, catches fire. The members begin to believe they can achieve things in divided government that most objective observers would believe is impossible. Leaders are dealing with these expectations that wouldn't exist in a normal environment.

I am not sure what he means by a "normal environment" but his point about the loss of earmark power is interesting. Campaign finance ought to tie in to that.

Grover Norquist ruminates about the sort of deal that could have avoided this and might yet resolve it:

Ezra Klein: So, do you think a shutdown is good for the issues and ideas you’re trying to push?

Grover Norquist: Not necessarily. I think the original plan for the Republicans was to move the continuing resolution past the debt ceiling and then to sit down with Obama and decide whether he would be willing to trade some relaxation of the sequester for significant reforms of entitlements. That was something Obama might well do. Democrats in the House and the Senate are very concerned about caps and limits in sequestration. Republicans could get significant long-term entitlement reform -- all on the spending side, I’m assured by leadership -- for some relaxation of sequester.

Something like that might’ve worked out. There was also the possibility, and I was an advocate, of pushing for delay. I thought Obama might do that. And even if he didn’t, I liked the idea of a two-month conversation over how Obama has delayed Obamacare for big business and big contributors and organized labor but not for you. So how about all Americans get treated equally and we have rule of law and delay everything?

...

EK: That sounds like the strategy that got us the shutdown, though.

GN: No, the leverage isn’t the debt ceiling. It’s not the CR. It’s the sequester. Democrats think this is desperate privation. It’s like the Kennedy kids with only one six-pack. They feel they’ve never been so mistreated. So there’s something they want. And there’s something Republicans want. So you could see a deal there. And the leverage was the sequester. That’s what struck me as what leadership was thinking about, and it made a great deal of sense.

And the final escape path still goes down Sequester Road:

Republicans have their principles. Let’s have health-care be more consumer-oriented, let’s not raise taxes, let’s reform government. I could imagine many things that would work inside those principles, but I’m not in Obama’s head. I don’t know how he values those things. If I were him I’d trade some money off the sequester today for reforms in entitlements that take place a long time from now. Those reforms will be done by somebody. You might as well get something for them. Someday Republicans will hold the White House and the Senate and they’ll pass the Ryan plan. You might as well get something for it.

That doesn't seem to be how Obama is thinking, nor does it seem to be what Boehner has been asking for. Yet, anyway - per Robert Costa, Boehner is moving back to a Grand Bargain II. Byron York notes that Grand Bargain II (or III, or umpty-bumpth) is a bit of a Hail Mary reflecting the absence of any better plan.

Comments

[NKonIPad]

Wow-- norquist makes sense, and poo poo head ezra printed that? Does young ezra with delusions of financial grandeur fear being eaten by the Alinsky crocodile?

[GMax]

Grover enrages me at time, but he does have a way with a phrase doesn't he? LOL

Democrats think this is desperate privation. It’s like the Kennedy kids with only one six-pack. They feel they’ve never been so mistreated. So there’s something they want.

emphasis added Now that is damn funny, I dont care what you say!

[Cecil Turner on mini pad]

Maybe the House republicans are finally figuring out that they control the spigot on the flow of federal funds . . . and that their constituents are more concerned over the debt passed on to their children than the smooth running of national parks.

The Dems are confident of winning, not realizing that their free-spending ways represent the worst possible outcome for conservatives. And so, with nothing more to lose . . . why not fight?

[Danube on iPad]

Wait till the social security checks stop flowing.

[Threadkiller]

Marines Cancel Upcoming Miramar Air Show

http://lamesa.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/marines-cancel-upcoming-miramar-air-show-lamesa

[NKonIPad]

CecilT -- great to hear from you. I would add this -- Dems have been addicted to spending for our entire lifetimes... It is their political currency. Now with soc sec and medicare/Aid and debt service taking up so much of total spending, they are addicted to Debt financed spending. Repubs nationally represent the producers, except the super rich cronies and northeast and calif cultural libs who areDems for the political power their wealth buys, so the Dems have set up a dynamic where it makes sense for Repubs to fight in order for theitr own political survival. Mintner and TomM have pointed that out this morning.

[bgates]

RC: And so many of these members now live in the conservative world of talk radio and tea party conventions and Fox News invitations.

EK: And National Review, right?

RC: Oh God no.

[bgates]

Republicans could get significant long-term entitlement reform -- all on the spending side, I’m assured by leadership -- for some relaxation of sequester.

"Long-term" = "a thousand years from now".

[NKonIPad]

Thanks bgates-- that costa quote proves thatNRO is fully assimilated into the DCBorg.

[centralcal]

I think that may be bgates satire, NK?

[4JIB2]

Does anyone really believe you can negotiate anything with Obama except those interests that further diminish America in the world?

From the NYT's article:

The vast majority of GOP lawmakers are safely ensconced in districts that, based on the voter rolls, would never think of electing a Democrat. Their bigger worry is that someone even more conservative than they are — bankrolled by a cadre of uncompromising conservative groups — might challenge them in a primary.

From DebinNC on the previous thread:

"According to David Wasserman, who analyzes House races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, 79 of the 236 House Republicans serving during the last shutdown resided in districts that Clinton won in 1992. Today, just 17 of the 232 House Republicans are in districts that Obama won in 2012."

I live in one of those districts and my congressman is hanging tough and he is not necessarily a Tea Party member but a national security/fiscal conservative. Makes sense to me.

[Some Guy]

In the prior thread, one of Soro's minions asked, 'what do we want from this?'

I can't speak for anyone but myself, but I'd like for the One to stop bending over backwards to "work" with republicans. I think it's time for him to just bend over, and stare at the Constitution.

He's like a trust fund kid who has outspent his allowance, and has to go beg dad for more money. Except he's so stupid he goes to dad, demands the money, dares him not to give it, and tells him he won't negotiate. "Don't call my bluff!!!"

There’s only one way to handle that kind of punk – cut him off.

Every day the government is “shutdown” (what a joke) is a good day.

[Extraneus]

It's naiive to think that this has much to do with principle.

The Dems have been itching for a shutdown for 18 years. Every budget battle, no matter how silly, has raised the horrific specter of [cue Jaws music] a shutdown... And always in the context that it would be a political disaster for Republicans, so they'd better capitulate pre-emptively.

Their hero, BJ Clinton, got some serious mojo, among other things, during the last one, and they want that, too. They want it bad.

Would it be poor imagery to hope they get their faces mashed into their little shutdown?

[Ignatz]

This is confusing; I'm assuming there are two sides in any stand off, correct?

If so, I'm guessing Dems in the Blue Hells have little to fear, almost certainly less so than Tea Partiers, and yet no mention is made of them in the Politico story TM links.

This couldn't be due to political bias at Politico could it?
The phrase "ringleaders" to describe the Reps leading the push against Barrycare certainly wouldn't indicate any.

[Stephanie on ipad sitting in the car waiting on clients late in traffic]

Rush just mentioned the drudge 1800fuckyou on his show!

[4JIB2]

DoT,

Holding the SS checks hostage is his strategy for the debt ceiling debate

What more to expect from a Chicago thug?

[NKonIPad]

Satire-- no doubt. Sometimes I miss the satire and condemn it sometimes I miss the satire and praise it. The costa satire is excellent, because it is so plausible.

[Ignatz]

It's not complicated; the stronger spine wins.
Can the Tea Party and conservatives/libertarians give the Reps a stronger one than the MFM can give Barry and Harry? Everything else is details.

[narcisoM]

Of course Costa doesn't ponder what happened to those 62 other districts, he supplied the apocryphal pull quote that the Journal used for Reid, instead of the incendiary language, he replied to Dana Bash. McClatchy also left that remark out,
you would think that would provide context,
color, which is exactly why they don't use it,

[narcisoM]

Well he's clearly over the target,

http://lonelyconservative.com/2013/10/unnamed-republican-senators-blast-senator-ted-cruz/

btw, Jimmy I agree Lhota seems to want to lose,

[daddy]

Oliver North is dumping on NSA Head Clapper's comments yesterday on the effects of the Shutdown.

Clapper said that if NSA workers don't get their paychecks, they are now very vulnerable and susceptible to being bought off by enemy agents and turned into spies against the US.

North says BS to that. He says that if Clapper thinks anyone at his Agency will sell out his country for a couple missed paychecks, then anyone that Clapper thinks might do that should immediately be fired. But North then says that he doesn't believe a word of what Clapper is saying about such vulnerable employees. In essence North is saying that Clapper has just slimed every one of his NSA employees as potential Judas'; fundamentally unpatriotic Americans who aren't loyal to this country, and who are simply doing a bureaucratic job while living hand to mouth for a Government paycheck. And to me North is correct.

Seems to me that If you were going to sell out the US for money, I doubt you'd do it simply because you missed one paycheck, which nobody has yet and won't until the 15th of October at the earliest. (Manning and Snowden didn't sell out the US for cash). If you were going to sell out for cash you'd sell out for a hell of a lot more than the replacement of a paycheck, and that temptation has been out there way before this shutdown and at way better prices. And you'd do it at a time when you suspected people were not looking at you, instead of now when your boss is in front of the Capitol Hill cameras saying all his employees are potential Benedict Arnolds.

Again Clapper strikes me as about as unimpressive a guy as I can think of to head the NSA. He has continually lied to us, he has been a moron to in not stating during testimony that some of these questions should be answered in different, more secure settings, instead of on CSPAN, and he continues to BS us. I would can his arse in an instant if I was his boss.

[narcisoM]

Well he's DNI, and he learned the lesson of Admiral Blair, don't actually pretend to know what you're talking about, you get thrown off the team.

Do the best Hugo Farnsworth impression,

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Those gutless Repukes bitching over Cruz's lack of an "exit strategy" are worse than the donks who used to say the same thing about GWB; only the commiecrats would at least go on record about it.

[Janet]

"I'm just going to stop working till I get something - I'm just going to shut down the whole plant until I get something' - You'd get fired, right?" ~ Obama

Makes me think of all those Dems fleeing states awhile back too. Staying in hotels in other states so they could stop a vote.

For Unions & fleeing Dems it is a great idea...if Republicans "strike" they are "terrorists".

[DebinNC]

I'd like to know the names of all 17 Repubs whose districts BOzo won in 2012. Two are in NY - King and Grimm with several others there that BOzo almost won. The Walking Dead leaving NYC for Long Island must have King scared spitless. Ditto Grimm whose district is Staten Island.

[lyle]

Seems to me that If you were going to sell out the US for money, I doubt you'd do it simply because you missed one paycheck, which nobody has yet and won't until the 15th of October at the earliest.

Good point, daddy. Unless they're all crack whores, a non-indistinct possiblity.

[Some Guy]

"I'm just going to stop working till I get something - I'm just going to shut down the whole plant until I get something' - You'd get fired, right?" ~ Obama

So Obama's admitted he should be fired. Cool.

[narcisoM]

The Top Men's reaction, is much like Kent Brockman, on that episode where Homer went on the Shuttle, the antcase broke, and he assumed the Ants had taken over, so he plead mercy on the Ant overlords,

[Ignatz]

Jeffrey Lord with a must read at AmSpec in which he declares this is not about tactics or number crunching; it's about Barry's far left crusade to transform America and the counter crusade it spawned. His choicest words are reserved for the ever present counter counter crusade of pusillanimous Repukes who are always afraid the people who wish to destroy America might not invite them to their parties if they stand on their hind legs or are seen next to one of those embarrassing Republicans who does.

[Janet]

Here's the link - http://www.caintv.com/obama-imagine-if-workers-could

[Ignatz]

--"I'm just going to stop working till I get something - I'm just going to shut down the whole plant until I get something' - You'd get fired, right?" ~ Obama--

Can you imagine, if Bush had said something that idiotic, how loud the sneers and wise cracks would be about whether he'd ever heard the words "strike" or "labor unions"?

[Threadkiller]

"I'm just going to shut down the whole plant until I get something' "

Is he talking about Boeing and S Carolina?

[James D.]

God, if we had a press corps that had even the tiniest shred of honesty or self-respect...

Reid's "Why would I want to do that?" would have been the lead story on every newscast last night; and Zero's moronic statement today "You'd get fired, right?" would be the lead tonight.

[narcisoM]

You were wondering where Reince has been, in the mouth of the Kraken apparently

[rse]

Iggy-

I deal a lot with the other aspects of this total transformative vision. Usually in personal emails from all over and people are in shock.

Lord really nailed it. Which was especially nice as I had one of my epiphanies and discovered stuff that has been printed within the last month. That continuing resolution has been used to mask spending designed to create what is being called economic citizenship as a matter of legal right.

And the papers keep insisting there will be no impact on a willingness to work on such guarantees. We are in the twilight zone and the shutdown is the only glimpse of light now for many people in the hinterlands.

[Old Lurker]

Rush just reported that it was revealed today that the IRS intends to take ACA penalties directly from taxpayer checking accounts?

I looked for that story, did not find it, but I do wonder what that process might look like.

[daddy]

Geezus---Gretchen Carlson on FOX is now having an interview with Meghan McCain:

Meghan to Gretchen: "I don't know if you saw this story but World War 2 Veterans not being allowed to go to the Memorial because we can't get our Government to get it's act together, I find it embarrassing."

Boy, Meghan is sure sharp to have noticed that story!

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Mega gets her intelligence from McRINO.

[GMax]

In any poll claiming to blame Republicans more, simply scroll down to where they disclose the sample size and composition. I am pretty certain that you will find that the sample has way more Democrats in in than Republicans. Then see if they reweighted the sample and made it even more Democrat. And notice if they give an option like "both". I could go on and on but the fact is if this is unpopular with Democrats, I probably love it. Just the way it is these days.

[DebinNC]

Every time I read a Meghan McCain quote I feel like Supermom.

[sandy daze]

slightly off-topic...

I wrote to Jim Ryan the other day, after H&R and others lamented his absence.

His reply:

Nice to hear from you. Thanks for the kind thoughts. I miss JOM, too. The truth is, it's quite demanding of my time because I love being there! Also, the political situation is very hard to stomach and being around people who realize how bad it is makes it even harder for me. Trying to cope with the decay, quite frankly.

[Neo]

Obama: Imagine if workers could shut down a manufacturing plant just because they didn’t get what they want
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEHKBqlpYwM

The House should offer to kill the NLRB

[4JIB2]

daddy,

Clapper is DNI not NSA - that be General Keith "Star Trek" Alexander who is either the biggest public liar on earth or the most uniformed boss on earth. Take your pick.

But the G2 community has been trained so well to hide the truth they are actually unable to be transparent even in their private lives.

[daddy]

Reid's "Why would I want to do that?" would have been the lead story on every newscast last night;

JamesD,

Just saw a clip of Kantor in front of the cameras making a clumsy, tangential reference to Reid's "Cancer kids" gaffe at the end of a comment about the ongoing non-negotiations. But Kanto did such a piss poor job of stating it clearly and understandably, that you would have no idea that Reid said it unless you already knew it, nor that there was any point or benefit in bringing it up. Reid teed up his idiocy like a softball right down the middle of the plate and Kantor completely struck out. Why can we not have 1 guy to stand up and make tons and tons of hay with these things?

If only we had a guy like Dennis Miller in Kantor's place, who could stand at the plate and deliver the towering and fun Home Run that needs to be made of these things and that would lead the news cycle because of it's wittiness and truth, and have all America cheering like hell in the bleachers, plus doing the wave, instead of this drab, droning, dweeb Kantor, fumbling through his lines like a retarded Bat Boy. What an opportunity blown. Arghhhhhhh.

[GMax]

Shots fired outside of Congress. Drudge has siren up.

[narcisoM]

True, but General Alexander sounds like he knows what he is talking about,

[MaryM]

--Every time I read a Meghan McCain quote I feel like Supermom.--

DebinNC wins the internet!

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

Cantor never fails to disappoint, particularly when he's on the right side.

[daddy]

Meghan to Gretchen: "I don't know if you saw this story but World War 2 Veterans not being allowed to go to the Memorial because we can't get our Government to get it's act together, I find it embarrassing."

Think of how much stupidity there is in that one comment:

1) "I don't know if you saw this story Seriously? You say that to a Daytime Talk Host at FOX names which has been covering this relentlessly for the last 48 hours? Seriously Meghan?

2) ...not being allowed to go to the Memorial.. By whom, Meghan, by Whom? Any possible thought or mention of how the hell an open air Memorial that has always been open has now intentionally had cops come and erect barriers where none have ever been before? Of course not. Like her dad she's a moron..

[sbwaters]

Shots fired outside the Capitol?

Can't happen. It's a gun free zone.

[daddy]

daddy,

Clapper is DNI not NSA

Thanks for the correction JiB, and I mean it. I hate being wrong which I am so often, but I think my rant was still correct. Guess there's a little Meghan McCain in me too:)

[4JIB2]

Looks like a bad boy in a car chase and happened upon the Capitol grounds. Not the best GPS in that car that's for sure. Wonder how long before Harry Reid calls it Tea Party anarchy on display because of the shutdown?

[4JIB2]

BTW, the world of web developers are under impressed by the HealthCare.gov website and its issues.

Losing the geek vote. Good job, Barry.

[Boricuafudd]

Obama: Imagine if workers could shut down a manufacturing plant just because they didn’t get what they want

The difference being that when any Labor Union does it, there are "always" justified in their minds. No one else is allowed that sort of action, especially not the Republicans.

[4JIB2]

President Obama's social security claim. Not so fast

James Pethokoukis calls him and Jack Lew out. Good points on the trust funds and the bonds they hold.

Another thug moment.

[MaryM]

--Wait till the social security checks stop flowing.--

When would that be? It's not tied to the debt ceiling, per Andrew Biggs: President">http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/10/president-obamas-social-security-claim-not-so-fast/">President Obama's SS Claim - Not So Fast

[MaryM]

Trying again w/ no fancy html stuff:

http://www.aei-ideas.org/2013/10/president-obamas-social-security-claim-not-so-fast/

[MaryM]

Oh, and there I could have just waited 30 seconds... Thanks, JIB.

[4JIB2]

Oops looks like Dingy Harry may get his chance to call that shooting a Tea Party inspired anarchy.

It seems to have started at the White House as the guy tried to get through the Jersey walls on Penn Avenue in front of the WH.

Be interesting to see who this guy is and what he was up to.

[DebinNC]

ABC headline:
Sources: Capitol lockdown occurred after attempt to ram White House gate; female suspect dead

[Captain Hate on the iPhone]

daddy, you've probably had hangnails smarter than Mega McCannz.

[Try hang gliding]

If the republicans can't get a year delay for the individual mandate then they should insist that all Obamacare requirements be implemented ASAP. All waivers will be rescinded along the year delay for businesses. Let them own it.

[Threadkiller]

Probably Uncle Onyango all juiced up, JIB.

[narcisoM]

Ok, but the Whitehouse, is a mile from Capitol Hill, this does not inspire a lot of confidence in security measures,

[Danube on iPad]

James P.: "The government then can go into the markets and borrow from the public the cash it needs to make benefit payments. This raises debt subject to the ceiling by the same amount. Nevertheless, it is almost certain that Social Security benefits could be paid because the two types of debt trade off against each other. Programs without a trust fund don’t have this luxury."

But would it?

[4JIB2]

narciso,

But you have a drag strip called Constitution Avenue you know. Easy to speed your way up to the Capitol.

[4JIB2]

Yowza. Woman with a child in the car. Kids okay.

I hope it isn't one of those "kids with cancer that Harry Reid doesn't care about" story.

[anonamom]

sbw, I tweeted your 2:49.
Excellent!

[Marlene]

High speed chase from the White House to Capitol Hill. Yikes. A female suspect with a child in the car?

[DebinNC]

CNN reported that police chased a car from near the White House to the Capitol and the shots were fired when the driver tried to flee. The shots were fired near the Hart Senate Office Building at 2nd Street and Constitution Avenue Northeast, only a few blocks from the U.S. Supreme Court, police said,

No mention that the driver was armed. Maybe she tried to run the officer down.

[MaryM]

--But would it?--

Danube - you started the subject by saying "wait till" etc. etc., which sure sounds like you're predicting it will happen that government will stop paying benefits despite having the ability to pay them.

My question for you is still wait until when? When do you think that happens?

[daddy]

I do hope that we have got a Republican spokesperson standing by, ginning up a short speech, that can be delivered rapidly and clearly, if Obama or some of the Dem's come out and try to blame this shooter incident prematurely on Republican intransigence in the Budget Bill.

If Obama does that (ala "I don't know anything about the facts but the Cambridge Police acted stupidly") I want a grown up on our side to immediately go straight after such irresponsible statements and quiet everyone down from making any political hay of this incident, while the police go about their job of dispassionately investigating the tragedy and finding out who did it and why.

My bet is that since all the cameras in the world are already focused on DC that there are teams of speechwriters sitting around this instant trying to figure out if political hay can be made of this incident.

Latest reports say the shooter was a woman and she had a baby in the car.

[narcisoM]

From Jennifrr Griffn;

Law enforcement source: female with apparent mental problems tried to ram barricade at White House. Chased by Secret Service toward Capitol.

[GMax]

That woman was probably frustrated when she finally got through on the Exchange and figured out how much her 'free healthcare" was going to cost!

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

so this was possibly a woman driving recklesssly and violently, but without any firearms?, and she was gunned down?....Oooo...Kkkkk... who do we prosecute for standing their ground shooting an unarmed woman?

[DebinNC]

LAT: Gunshots were fired near the U.S. Capitol after police chased a vehicle that had slammed into a security post on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the White House.
Police surrounded the vehicle Thursday afternoon on Constitution Avenue near the U.S. Capitol and the Supreme Court. The suspect was killed, according to law enforcement sources, and police said at least one officer was injured in the volley.

Friendly fire? Still no mention the woman was armed.

[4JIB2]

Leased car. Woman is dead. From out of state (duh). She had a gun and came out of the car firing.

[daddy]

female with apparent mental problems

If only the Republican's would give us a Clean Bill this sad lady would be able to get the Mental health care she obviously needs and her children would be in the Head Start Pre-Schools that have been closed as a result of Republican intransigence.

[Threadkiller]

Gins don't kill people, barrycaides kill people.

[4JIB2]

DebinNC,

Listening to WNEW 99.1 in DC. News Radio.

Evidently, they are saying Secret Service shot the suspect. Must have chased her from WH.

[Threadkiller]

....Barrycades...

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

"She had a gun and came out of the car firing."

I still think that the DOJ Civil Rights Division should investigate for unjustified lethal force. This is clearly all part of the war on women.

[4JIB2]

Woman had no ID. Car had out of state plates.

[OldTimer]

The DC shooting incident sounds beyond odd - why would a mother, with a baby in the car for gawd's sake, try to storm the Capitol. The investigation should be interesting.

Before they start in on TP accusations, maybe Dingy Harry and Barry's tyrannical intransigence sent her over the edge...

[daddy]

Conversely, from tonight's FOX All Star Panel:

"I wish this car chase murder had waited until next week because it takes the focus off of the problems inherent in implementing ObamaCare. Tactically it was a poor time to do this, and she should have waited until the Debt Ceiling negotiations. Now everybody in Washington and in the Media is talking about this incident, and not about the glitches in ObamaCare."

[DebinNC]

ABC7:
Police tell ABC7's Jennifer Donelan that the incident reportedly started when an unidentified woman tried to drive through a barricade at the White House. She had a baby in the back seat of her vehicle. The woman fled the area and ended up at the Capitol, where she tried to drive through another barricade. Authorities opened fire on the vehicle, killing the woman, authorities say.

She posed a definite danger to others, but was she shooting at anyone? I hope she was a crazed driver and not a crazed shooter.

[MaryM]

Twitter is saying the car hit a bollard at 14th and Penns NW, went down Penn toward Capitol, stopped at 2nd and Constitution.

I don't buy into the "mental problems" stories yet - based on nothing. Also, it seems only Police were armed. For all we know, her child was ill and she acted erratically in an attempt to get to a hospital or something. I base that on nothing less (though nothing more) than everything else I've seen so far.

[Threadkiller]

Probably a stuck throttle.

Was it a Toyota?

[Threadkiller]

Maybe she looked like Christopher Dorner.

[centralcal]

What if the woman had some kind of seizure or something?

[Porchlight]

One hundred years ago today, President Woodrow Wilson signed the federal income tax into law. Thanks a lot.

[MaryM]

--and police said at least one officer was injured in the volley--

Now seeing: The cop was injured in a crash, not bullets. Also, not life-threatening injury.

[Extraneus]

Remember, they think there are millions of right-wing nuts out there, and they're scared.

[Some Guy]

I imagine the WH is frenetic and anxious to jump on this story, and they will.

Will they jump to soon, like the ‘looked like my son’ charade?

Yes, they will.

[Some Guy]

tooooooo not to

[DebinNC]

One U.S. Capitol Police officer was injured in the incident, a federal law enforcement official said. The official said it is believed the officer was injured in a related vehicle accident.

WJLA and NBC report that the driver was killed in the shooting. The woman driver, who has not been immediately identified, was driving a black sedan, the official said. MSNBC and CNN report that the driver was shot after getting out of the black vehicle near the Hart Senate Office building

No mention of her firing a gun at any point.

[Threadkiller]

It was the arugula delivery girl.

[NK(tryin'2.0)]

Nervous and 'shoot first' DC cops is understandable after Navy Yard. The USMC shot down USS Enterprise fighter planes at Pearl Harbor the evening of 7 Dec 41.

[Threadkiller]

Was it Eleanor Holmes Norton?

[DebinNC]

One report is that the secret service were in hot pursuit too after she rammed the WH "gate".