Liberal Media Spin On Boehner & The GOP As Government Shutdown Looms

Throughout last night and all today, liberal media and even some more moderate outlets, such as the Wall Street Journal, have been crowing about the House GOP's risks, should there be a government shutdown this week.

The continuing theme, as prominently pounded on by CNBC's "Red" John Harwood, and seconded by Harry Reid, is that Boehner & Co. are trapped between Tea Party supporters and the fear of being blamed for any such shutdown.

Wonderboy got into the act yesterday, telling some lies and claiming that a measly $30B of spending cuts is sufficient, so any problems ensuing from the lack of another continuing resolution belong to Republicans. The funniest thing was hearing the First Rookie hypothesize about the disappointment and fiscal damage a family might suffer if they had planned a vacation to a national park. He was grasping at straws to try to imagine what costs might be involved, because he's obviously never done something like that. And at this time of the year, not too many families with young children are traveling, because school is in session.

Take a step back, though, and the Democrats, to me, seem to be in serious trouble. Even Fox News pollster Frank Luntz explained the other evening that Paul Ryan's 2012 budget strikes exactly the right tone with independents concerning excessive government spending. Wonderboy, Reid et.al. are trying to pretend the big deal is whether the federal government endures a partial shutdown for a few weeks.

Everybody outside of Washington sees spending out of control, with no end in sight. The thought of American taxpayers saving a few shekels by having the federal machinery shuttered is no bad thing.

I know it boils down to the question of whether Republicans should extract as much as possible in spending cuts with each small step in the budget process, or risk being blamed for a shutdown while going for more.

But this isn't 1995 or 1996. And Boehner is not Gingrich. Neither is Paul Ryan. This isn't about personalities, egos, or showing anyone who's boss. It's about some principled conservative GOP Congressmen providing spine-stiffening support to otherwise-moderates like Boehner and his older colleagues, to finally get serious about attacking federal spending and deficits.

Sixteen years ago, nobody quoted how much of every federal dollar spent was borrowed from China. Now, we all know it's 40 cents.

That's a huge difference that liberal media pundits just don't get.