Today Rep. Ann Wagner (R-2), chair of the GOP “freshman class,” will accompany House Speaker Boehner’s leadership team to meet with the President to talk about the shutdown impasse. Dscussing the upcoming meeting on last night’s Larry Kudlow show, she was all sugary platutudes about how she expects that the meeting will result in “solving big problems.” Interestng how a tantrum over Obamacare has morphed in Wagner’s rhetoric into a high-minded crusade to fix everything from “balancing a budget, deficit reduction, welfare reform.”  

Interesting but also frightening since her riff on the “big problems” she and her Republican colleagues are inviting Harry Reid and President Obama to assist with solving also gives us a clue about the pound of flesh the GOP may try to exact in lieu of killing Obamacare outright. The words “entitlement reform,” aka undermining Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and, yes, Obamacare, were tossed around in this context.

The other special Wagner theme was the way that the righteous Republican House members have worked to fix all the problems caused by that nasty shutdown that the Democrats caused by not ceding the government to the Republicans who lost the last election:

We want to make sure vital services are funded, that the government is open, and we don’t want to deal with this nonnegotiating mentality that’s out there. nor should we be scaring the american people with threats of recession and ransom and retreat. These things are wrong.

Vital services funded? Cherry-picking popular programs to fund amounts to cheap PR-stunts.

Democrats and the President demonstrate a non-negotiating mentality? Rich coming from a member of the Party of No, folks whose refusal to negotiate has been the major theme of the past three years. Now that they have escalated their terrorist tactics they expect negotiations?

And what’s that about scaring Americans with “threats of recession and ransom and retreat”? Does Wagner really think Americans are such idiots that we don’t know that what she and her GOP colleagues are doing is demanding a ransom for performing their basic duties? Doesn’t she realize that many of us, at least those of us who aren’t Tea Party congressmen, know that shutting the government down hurts the economy, and that flirting with not paying the country’s bills by refusing to raise the debt limit is a recipe for economic disaster.

Believe me, as a citizen who expects to be able to cash in on my hard-earned 401(K), a retirement resource that could be wiped out if the government defaults, I’m very frightened by the rash actions of folks like Wagner – who has been cheering this idiocy on from the beginning.  Remember when this enthusiastic negotiator proclaimed that the “the American people are ready for a fight” to defund Obamacare. Well, she got her fight, but now wants to pretend that all she and her pals ever wanted was a little parlay.

UPDATE:  Steve Benen noticed all the “negotiation” talk as well and points out the fatuousness:

Boehner will instead dispatch 18 House Republicans — whom the Speaker has designated “negotiators,” despite the fact that the meeting is not a negotiation — chosen to represent the caucus. […]  why would Obama spend time with a feckless House Speaker and his hand-picked allies? One of the key lessons of 2013 is that Boehner is Speaker In Name Only and has very little control and/or influence over what actually happens in the chamber he ostensibly runs.

Take that Ann Wagner.

From 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. this evening during “rush hour” in Warrensburg, at the corner of Maguire and Business 50, seven individuals picketed against the federal government shutdown. Three of the individual pickets were veterans. Warrensburg is in Missouri’s 4th Congressional District and is represented in Washington by Vicky Hartzler (r). Esquire‘s Charles P. Pierce leads with Representative Hartzler (r) in Meet the Morons Who Caused the Shutdown.

Whiteman Air Force Base is located ten miles east of Warrensburg. There is a significant population of military retirees, active duty personnel, and civilian DoD employees who live in the Warrensburg area.

In the hour that the group picketed they were greeted with supportive horn honking and “thumbs up”. There was a much smaller number of negative comments. That shouldn’t be a surprise considering the number of local people who were affected by the DoD furloughs. On occasion, when traffic was stopped at the light, the pickets engaged in conversations with drivers and passengers.

Two thumbs up.

“End the shutdown, do your job Vicky”

Previously:

Rep. Vicky Harztler (R): go tell it to the Speaker (r) (October 1, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): well, that didn’t go so well (October 2, 2013)

Because there weren’t television cameras at Head Start (October 3, 2013)

The greatest generation (October 3, 2013)

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): I get reasonable communications from those who disagree with me (October 4, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): for every season, spin, spin, spin, there is a reason, spin, spin, spin… (October 5, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): climate change comes to the teabagger caucus (October 5, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): voting to fund government one news story at a time (October 8, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): “I <3 our national parks.” (October 9, 2013)

The GOP House Speaker, John Boehner says the shutdown crisis “isn’t some damn game,” but there’s no doubt that the Republicans in Congress are indeed playing a game, and a very dangerous game it is. And what’s worse, Republican leaders are aware that what they are doing is suicidal as far as their party is concerned and homicidal as far as the nation goes. It’s happening because of a few yeast-brained fools who think that they’re making a grand stand for principles that even they are hard put to describe in meaningful terms. E. J. Dionne puts it perfectly; it’s “the Seinfeld Shutdown: It’s about absolutely nothing, at least where substance is concerned.”

How, you may be forgiven for asking, can responsible legislators lead the country into disaster to satisfy continually shifting and politically undigestable demands? The answer: consider the people doing the demanding. And you don’t have to go far to do it since we have here in Missouri more than a few legislators that suffer from the same delusions as the would-be leaders of the attempted GOP coup d’état in Washington D.C.

Let’s start with state Senator Ed Emery (R-31), who exemplifies the constitutional fetish common to so many GOP legislators who were agitating for the shutdown. To give you an idea about how bad it is, Emery holds that the vetoed gun bill, HB436, widely deemed by legal experts to have egregiously violated the Constitution, was “the most constitutional bill this year, not just in Missouri’s Legislature, but in any state.” Not surprisingly, he also insists that despite the contrary opinion of the Supreme Court, Obamacare is not only unconstitutional, but constitutes an overweening threat to God and Country:

One need know little about the origins and history of America and the origins and history of Obamacare to know that this fight is not about the survival of Obamacare or of a political party, it is about the survival of the Republic. …

I’m willing to bet that this poor schmuck, like plenty of the D.C. Tea Party contingent, really believes this sort of tripe. It’s based on an attitude that views the Constitution as a magical, quasi-religious icon that codifies the deepest wishes of ignorantly genuflecting true believers, rather than a mental construct that has to be intellectually apprehended. How else could Senator Emery ignore the constitutional authority of the Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare? Garrett Epps  points out some of the most common rightwing Constitutional errors and identifies some purely non-existent passages and words that are commonly bandied about by these folks, all of  which allow them, in Epps words, to wave the Constitution “about like great-grandpa’s Confederate cavalry sword to demonstrate that we can’t have health care, or environmental protection, or whatever other policy they oppose today.”  

Not surprisingly, you get a heaping serving of the stupid when you leaven this faux-constitutional fervor with the simplistic economic cliches current on the right – beautifully exemplified by state Rep. Mike Kelley (R-126), who baldly states that “the federal government is shutdown today and the last few days because it’s out of money!” That, of course, is untrue in general terms, and untrue when it comes to the claim that we cannot afford Obamacare; in fact, repealing Obamacare would actually increase the deficit.

So what we’re confronted with are a gang of none-too-bright legislators with a poor grasp of economics, tons of inbred prejudices, and heroic yearnings focused on a poorly digested understanding of the Constitution. In short, ripe for plucking.

And plucked they have been, as the the New York Times made clear in a recent article on the evolution of the shutdown which traces its roots to months of planning on the part of rightwing groups such as Americans for Prosperity, Heritage Action for America and others, all generously funded by titans of industry like the Koch brothers, and happily steering the equally dim-witted federal analogues of Emery and Kelley into our current disaster. The goal? To destroy any legislation that would slow progress towards a United States of America that more closely resembles those third-world, free-market paradises where many of these “job-creators” have already gone to do their low-cost creating.  

Still, nothing about hot meals for the hungry.

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) via twitter today:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler ‏@RepHartzler

POTUS has closed open-air memorials to the people in an unprecedented move. #PoliticalTheater #LetsTalk 8:23 AM – 9 Oct 13

The bastard. Next, we’ll be hearing that he personally took food out of the mouths of hungry children. Oh, wait…

Some of the replies:

ReginaldConwayIII ‏@ReginaldConway

@RepHartzler You know what’s unprecedented is you actually showing up for work. But we’d really like it if you #justvote you bum. 8:24 AM – 9 Oct 13

From a supporter:

Jeanette ‏@texasfreedom101

@RepHartzler O won’t negotiate w/@GOP but will negotiate w/ Syria Iran &Russia? [….] #HarryReidsShutdown #MakeDCListen 8:24 AM – 9 Oct 13

Uh, everyone knows that you don’t ever negotiate with terrorists.

Practical:

Timwayne ‏@PTSDisSAD

@RepHartzler one need only ignore 1 sign”stay off the grass”Its a park,who will come back to pay the fine?Are there walls around our parks? 8:30 AM – 9 Oct 13

Good question.

And another:

Avocet ‏@_Avocet

@RepHartzler Congresswoman, why has the House not passed the regular 2014 appropriations bill to fund Nat’l Parks? #RepublicanWankers 8:36 AM – 9 Oct 13

Previously:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): voting to fund government one news story at a time (October 8, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): climate change comes to the teabagger caucus (October 5, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): for every season, spin, spin, spin, there is a reason, spin, spin, spin… (October 5, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): well, that didn’t go so well (October 2, 2013)

The retail price of gas goes up and it comes back down.

The price of gas in west central Missouri yesterday afternoon:

Interestingly, we haven’t heard anything lately about this from our local teabagger in Congress. She must be really busy misreading, misinterpreting, and misrepresenting reality on some other subject.

Previously:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): we don’t need no stinkin’ objective reality (January 21, 2012)

[….]

@RepHartzler Rep. Vicky Hartzler

Outrageous! Pres. Obama has killed the 20,000 jobs Keystone Pipeline project increasing our dependence on foreign oil. 18 Jan

And this reply:

@racb33 Raymond cattaneo

@RepHartzler u do realize that the keystone was transporting FOREIGN oil, right? 20 Jan

[….]

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): not especially prescient (January 9, 2013)

Interesting. The republican controlled House is passing piecemeal funding legislation. Aside from previously naming post offices and voting at every opportunity to defund Obamacare, they’d normally be hard pressed to find a vote button in the chamber. It must be confusing for them.

Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) via Twitter today:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler ‏@RepHartzler

House voted bipartisanly to fund pediatric cancer research. @SenatorReid won’t consider the bill. Come on Senate, #LetsTalk 8:18 AM – 8 Oct 13

Some of the responses:

Jill Floyd ‏@JillFloyd13

@RepHartzler Send clean CR & it will all be over. Why won’t you? B/c your #LetsTalk is the new “negotiate? I’ve sen hot mic vid @SenatorReid 8:20 AM – 8 Oct 13

Grim_Chkn ‏@grm_chikn

.@RepHartzler YOU had 19 chances and refused, stop being shady http://www.nationaljournal.com… … @SenatorReid 8:20 AM – 8 Oct 13

Randall Rogers ‏@Randy520

@RepHartzler @SenatorReid The same can be said about the house Cruz will not let the house vote on the clean CR so now what keep lying 8:21 AM – 8 Oct 13

Dress Your Book ‏@DressYourBook

@RepHartzler @SenatorReid its all or nothing. That is important but what about me getting paid to feed my kids! Thats important also! 8:24 AM – 8 Oct 13

Avocet ‏@_Avocet

@RepHartzler Congresswoman, why has the House not passed the regular 2014 appropriations bill to fund cancer research? #RepublicanWankers 8:27 AM – 8 Oct 13

Warren Smith ‏@WarrenESmith

@RepHartzler @SenatorReid pass a clean CR and those kids will get cared for. 8:35 AM – 8 Oct 13

Peter Ver Brugge ‏@p_verbrug

@RepHartzler This is the most backwards way to look at it. If you wanted to fund cancer research, why did you shut down the government? 10:21 AM – 8 Oct 13

Rusty Colbert ‏@RustyColbert

@RepHartzler @SenatorReid Put the clean CR bill up for a vote.. But you wont because GOP wanted this and will destroy America. #VOTEOUTGOP 3:41 PM – 8 Oct 13

Previously:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): climate change comes to the teabagger caucus (October 5, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): for every season, spin, spin, spin, there is a reason, spin, spin, spin… (October 5, 2013)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r): well, that didn’t go so well (October 2, 2013)

…I don’t think we’ll be seeing any open to the general public town halls in the district anytime soon…

It doesn’t look good, does it?

Yesterday, at the Missouri Ethics Commission:

C000521 10/07/2013 AMEREN MISSOURI POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE Ameren Missouri PO Box 66892 St Louis MO 63166 10/7/2013 $125,000.00

[emphasis added]

They’ve got the power. Heh. Still, it’s not quite chess territory.

In the past:

Oh, for the love of… (September 24, 2012)

Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r) v. Mikey Weinstein (R) (July 11, 2013)

….On May 13, 2013, Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) signed on to letter addressed to the Secretary of Defense taking issue (“expressing concern”) with a meeting on religious freedom that Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, had with representatives of the Department of Defense. The exchange of letters was made available on Representative Hartzler’s congressional website yesterday. That meeting would probably fall under that pesky “redress of grievances” clause, plus a few others….

Then, today, via Twitter:

Rep. Vicky Hartzler ‏@RepHartzler

Obamacare forces nuns to violate their own consciences because they’re not religious enough. #ObamacareFails [….] 11:47 AM – 7 Oct 13

There’s a link in Representative Hartzler’s (r) Twitter post to a video about the Little Sisters of the Poor, produced by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.

From Right Wing Watch [People for the American Way], on the Becket Fund:

‘Religious Liberty’ Panelist: Compromise is of the Devil

Submitted by Peter Montgomery on Wednesday, 2/20/2013 6:27 pm

….[Adele] Keim [lawyer for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty] talked about Becket’s client Hobby Lobby, which is suing the Obama administration over the contraception mandate.  Or as Keim insisted on calling it, the contraception/abortifacient mandate. Keim argued that business owners are no less deserving of religious accommodation than churches or religiously affiliated nonprofits, saying “Americans do not lose their First Amendment rights when they go to work.” Of course by the standard she was invoking, many Americans could find their own rights and access to health care dictated by the religious beliefs of their employer….

Ah, that Hobby Lobby:

Christian-Owned Hobby Lobby Is Accused Of Anti-Semitism

When questioned, an employee at a New Jersey store allegedly told a customer, “We don’t cater to you people.”

[….]

Hobby Lobby Totally Wants To Spin The Dreidel With You Now

By Laura Northrup October 7, 2013

[….]

“This company didn’t do good market research before opening a store in an area with a large Jewish population” is a much more likely explanation than “they won’t order a few dreidels because of bigotry.”

Apparently, they’re now going to test market in New York and New Jersey. Think about that for a minute.

If they have a Las Vegas store do you think it’ll start stocking condoms? Just asking.

Back to the Little Sisters of the Poor video. There’s a comment from someone who viewed it:

[….]

I commend the Sisters for caring for the elderly and never letting someone die alone regardless of their religious affiliation. I think it’s great that they look at the person and not their religion when in their final stages of life. But there is the problem. Since they are not solely a religious organization they basically shoot themselves in the foot.

And, a response to Representative Hartzler’s (r) Twitter post:

Jalen Michael Weir ‏@ravngsofamadman

@RepHartzler Very touching video, so how does #ACA prevent them from living their faith or stop them from serving poor and elderly? 11:55 AM – 7 Oct 13

Reps. Ann Wagner (R-2) and Jason Smith (R-8) want furloughed federal workers to know that they too share the pain of the government shutdown. The two Republican Missouri lawmakers, along with Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, have joined the other congessmen and women – 138 as of last Friday – who decided that something had to be done about the bad smell that was rising from the Republican shutdown and contaminating all of Washington D.C. These legislators have all publicly stated that for the duration of the shutdown they will either defer their congressional salaries or donate them to charity.

It ought to mean a lot to those federal employees, many of whom live pay-check to pay-check and who now have to scrape by on nothing, that congressmen whose median net worth hovers at around a $1 million want to make a symbolic gesture in their direction. Wagner, for example, is actually one of the wealthiest members of the House.

The gesture on the part of the 73 Republicans participating in this exercise in optics might mean more if they were also willing to end the standoff that they started with their outrageous ultimatums. As it is, it stands as a classic example of too little, too late and no way to make amends.

If, to return to the example of Ann Wagner, she really cared about the mess she has helped her party create, she could lean on the House leadership to bring a clean budgetary continuing resolution (CR) to the floor – which could pass with the support of Democrats and those Republicans who have already signalled their disgust with their party’s antics. Or she could stand up and let her colleagues and the GOP leadership know that she would support a discharge petition and vote for the CR if Nancy Pelosi tries to use that tactic to bring it to the floor.

Instead, as today’s St. Louis Post-Dispatch notes, Wagner is “out front pressing Democrats to negotiate on the Affordable Care Act before she will agree to end the shutdown.”  And even worse, as a Post-Dispatch editorial observed last week, shutdown cheerleader Wagner may be motivated as much by perceived political exigency as from conviction. Astutely assigning blame for the current shutdown, the PD observed that:

Narrowly the blame here lies with the approximately three dozen Republicans from solidly safe districts who have confused right-wing messaging with leadership. They are joined by several dozen more GOP members, including Ann Wagner of Ballwin, who are more worried about primary challenges from the right than fulfilling their constitutional duties. They are putting personal political interests ahead of the public interest.

Refusing to take an unneeded salary in order to defer criticism? A so-so gesture at best. Actually trying to do the best thing for one’s constituents and one’s country? Priceless – and, in today’s GOP, very, very rare.