Filibustered

Jonathan Singer here writes what I was thinking about the difference between the Newt shutdown and Reid's proposed standstill in the face of the "nuclear option."

Equally impressive is [Reid]'s decision to exepmt both military funding and critical government services.

When Newt Gingrich shut down the government in 1995, his subsequent loss of support among the American people occurred when citizens realized they wanted Social Security checks, the Post Office, etc. By leaving such services out of a broad-based shut down of the Senate, Reid negates the risk of undercutting his support among the American people.

I don't have much more to add to this. The Republicans are already rallying their side and calling Democrats insane to do such a thing. No doubt these are the same partisans who felt the Gingrich shutdown would result in bad news for Bill Clinton. That outcome did not occur, and I don't think the public will much care about the Senate function as long as Reid keeps those two things exempted.