GOP can't wait to shut down the government

The Greek chorus of GOPers who are drooling over gaining enough seats to really screw up the country is growing. The lastest to join the choir is Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R-GA), the vice chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, who wants to take us back to the golden days of the early 90s.

If Republicans take back the House, Westmoreland said, they would use their new majority to force a budget battle akin to the fight staged by former Speaker Newt Gingrich with President Clinton and shut down the federal government. Westmoreland cautioned that he was fully aware that such a move would close down hospitals for veterans and shut down National Parks. But, Westmoreland argued that taking down the government is worth “the pain” because health reform and government programs are like a “gangrene” that “need to be cleaned out”:

If government shuts down, we want you with us. We want you with us. We gotta have you because later on you all will call us and say look I didn’t get my check. Daddy can’t go to the VA. You know, the National Parks are closed. We need to be sure that you are with us because let me tell you this, all Americans need to understand. We need to understand this and I hope you can help share this analogy with people.

He then mutters something incomprehensible abut chain saw accidents and gangrene. I guess he means the vets that depend on the VA for care had better avoid chain saws so they can support his dastardly plan. And when he says we'll get calls about those missing checks, he's talking about Social Security checks and Medicare coverage. Maybe they could even shut down the federal courts and suppress those "activist" judges. Just brilliant.

The good news is, if this happened, chances are the GOP would really be done for at least another generation. The bad news is, in the interim, people would probably die. Every day I'm increasingly convinced these old GOPers have seriously cracked up and lost their minds completely.